For dietetics
Billing and medical-aid claims for dietetics practices
NetPractice submits dietetics claims to South African medical schemes in real time, using the 84-prefixed five-digit tariff codes dietetics actually bills — so a procedure printed as 303 on your schedule goes out as 84303, not 0303. The accepted or rejected outcome comes back in seconds, so a coding rejection is a two-minute fix on the day rather than a surprise at month-end.
The code-form trap
Dietetics consultations are commonly time-based, and scheme cover varies more than in almost any other allied discipline: the same consultation may be paid from a chronic benefit for one member and from day-to-day savings for the next.
South African tariff codes come in two billed forms, and which one applies depends on your discipline. Medical specialists bill the bare four-digit code — a GP bills 0190 as 0190. Allied and paramedical disciplines bill their BHF discipline number followed by the three-digit procedure. Dietetics is discipline 84:
| Discipline | BHF number | Billed code form |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational therapy | 66 | 66nnn |
| Podiatry | 68 | 68nnn |
| Physiotherapy | 72 | 72nnn |
| Audiology | 82 | 82nnn |
| Dietetics | 84 | 84nnn |
| Psychology | 86 | 86nnn |
| Nursing and home-based care | 88 | 88nnn |
| Biokinetics | 91 | 91nnn |
This is invisible on a tariff schedule, because the schedule prints the short procedure number and leaves the form to you. It is the most common structural coding error in allied practices, and it does not fail politely: codes come back unknown or priced at zero across the board rather than case by case. If that is what your rejections look like, check the form before you check anything else.
Each scheme’s own tariff schedule is the authority on its rates and codes. Where a scheme’s schedule disagrees with anything here, follow the schedule. Clinical technology is deliberately absent from the table above: its numbering is not consistent between schemes, so no single pattern would be correct.
What a dietetics practice gets
- Initial and follow-up consultations captured as different items.
- A high proportion of cash patients, so billing has to handle both cleanly.
- Repeat follow-ups over months, where a patient’s benefit position changes mid-programme.
- Referral letters and progress notes for the referring practitioner.
Plus everything every practice gets: real-time claim submission with the scheme’s verdict in seconds, invoices and monthly statements, patients and visits, clinical notes, and reports on aged debtors, daily collections and turnover.
Two things worth reading next if claims are the problem: why medical aid claims get rejected and how to read a remittance advice, which is where short-paid dietetics lines usually show up first.
Dietetics billing questions
Do medical schemes cover dietitian consultations in South Africa?
Cover varies substantially by scheme and plan, and often depends on whether the consultation relates to a registered chronic condition or comes out of day-to-day benefits. Confirm the member’s position before the consultation rather than after.
What is the dietetics discipline number for billing?
Dietetics is discipline 84, so the billed tariff code is 84 followed by the three-digit procedure number, not the bare four-digit form used by medical specialists.
Do dietetics claims need an ICD-10 diagnosis code?
Yes. Every claim to a South African medical scheme needs a valid ICD-10 code, coded to the most specific level the record supports. For an injury the scheme also expects an external-cause code, and that cause code has to be a billable five-character code rather than a category heading.
What does billing software cost for a dietetics practice?
On NetPractice it is R9.50 per claim with the first 10 claims each month free, and no monthly fee or contract. A practice submitting 200 claims a month pays R1,805.
Start with 10 free claims
R9.50 a claim after your first 10 each month, no monthly fee and no contract. Set up within 24 hours.