LEAP/MRT Not Eligible for CPEUs
In September 2016, the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR) made the decision not to accept due to lack of scientific evidence LEAP (Lifestyle Eating and Performance) and MRT (Mediator Release Assay) learning activities and related activities (i.e., certification courses, sponsored independent learning) for continuing professional education units (CPEUs).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), consider the Mediator Release Assay (LEAP diet) not medically reasonable and necessary as the quality of evidence in the literature is not sufficient to support diagnostic validity1. In accordance with the Code of Ethics for the Nutrition and Dietetics Profession, CDR advises credentialed dietetics practitioners to practice using an evidence-based approach when supporting patients/clients, and community, and to remain informed about emerging research to best support patient care.
1 Allergy testing. CMS.gov. (n.d.). https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/lcd.aspx?lcdid=33261&ver=40
CDR recommends that Registered Dietitians review Food Allergies and Best Practices information and the Definition of Terms as the term Evidence-Based Practice is defined:
Evidence-Based Practice is a systematic approach to health care wherein health practitioners use the best evidence possible, i.e., the most appropriate information available, to make decisions for individuals, groups, or populations to improve outcomes.
Evidence-based practice values and enhances clinical expertise, and knowledge biochemistry, metabolism, physiology, and disease pathophysiology. It involves complex and conscientious decision making based on patient/client characteristics, situations, and preferences as well as evidence. It recognizes that health care is individualized and ever changing and involves uncertainties and probabilities.
Evidence-based practice incorporates successful strategies derived from various sources including research, national guidelines, policies, consensus statements, systematic analysis of clinical experience, quality improvement data, specialized knowledge and skills of experts.43,44
For Professional Expertise, consider:
Professional expertise within a dietetic discipline involves gradients (competent, proficient, expert), and an RDN can achieve one level in a particular context and a different level in another context/practice scenario.9,23
In Evidence-Based Practice or Evidence-Based Dietetics Practice, individual professional expertise combined with patient/client values helps to contextualize best available evidence.
Credentialed nutrition and dietetics practitioners have the responsibility to conduct thorough and systematic evidence searches to accurately determine the extent and strength of available evidence.
Collaborative efforts between evidence-based practitioners and researchers, in turn, help discover practically relevant problems for future experimentation.45