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Grounded Scribe
Reference only — not billing advice

MBS items change. Verify the current descriptor, fee, and rules on MBS Online before billing. This page does not include a fee amount. Last reviewed 27 April 2026.

  • Allied health
  • Accredited Practising Dietitian

Item 10954

CDM Allied Health — Dietetics

Dietetics health service of at least 20 minutes provided to a patient with a chronic condition and complex care needs, on referral from the patient's GP under a chronic condition management plan.

Plain-English summary. See MBS Online for the verbatim descriptor of each item.

  • TimeAt least 20 minutes
  • FrequencyNot capped
  • ReferralRequired
  • ProfessionAccredited Practising Dietitian

Requirements to bill

Conditions imposed by the descriptor that must be met to claim this item.

  1. Patient must have a chronic condition and complex care needs being managed by their GP under a chronic condition management plan (the items historically known as GPMP / TCA, now consolidated as the GP chronic condition management plan), prepared or reviewed in the last 18 months.
  2. GP must have referred the patient on the approved allied health referral form, naming dietetics as the service required.
  3. Service must be of at least 20 minutes duration.
  4. Provider must be an accredited practising dietitian eligible to provide Medicare services.
  5. Combined cap of 5 individual CDM allied health services per calendar year, across all CDM allied health providers and items.

Your notes must show

Documentation tests — what clinical notes need to record to match what the item asks.

  • Date, start time, end time, location, and item number claimed.
  • Referral details — referring GP, plan date, the chronic condition(s) the referral is targeted at, sessions remaining in the calendar-year cap.
  • How the service relates to the chronic condition management plan goals.
  • Dietetic assessment (anthropometry, dietary intake, nutrition-related diagnoses), intervention, and patient response.
  • Plan / next steps and communication back to the referring GP.
  • Confirmation a written report has been provided to the GP (CDM items require communication back to the referrer).

Common audit failures

Patterns the Professional Services Review scheme and Medicare audits flag.

  • Session duration not documented — 20-minute minimum cannot be substantiated.
  • No current GP chronic condition management plan on file.
  • Notes describe a generic dietetic intervention without referencing the management plan.
  • No written communication back to the referring GP.
  • Sessions billed beyond the 5-per-calendar-year combined cap (across all CDM allied health items).

Related MBS items

Diagnostic codes commonly billed under this item

ICD-10-AM diagnoses whose Medicare pathway includes this item. Click through to the diagnostic-code reference for differential codes and clinical context.

Templates that document this item

Note templates inside Grounded Scribe that produce documentation aligned to this MBS item.

In-depth reading in the Library

Source authority

Documentation tests on this page reference the descriptor conditions and PSR-audit patterns covered in our existing Library guides. Always confirm current rules against the official descriptor.

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