LO
ConstraintCognitive automation2016-11-28
US nursing homes' menus must be reviewed by the facility's dietitian for nutritional adequacy, and only a physician or a delegated dietitian may prescribe a resident's diet
Dietitian / nutritionistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2016-11-28
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
Medical nutrition therapy
Assessing a patient's nutritional status and prescribing a diet for their condition.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Menu planning for institutions
Planning weeks of menus for a hospital, school or care home within nutrient and cost limits.
Automating✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
United States, nursing homes in Medicare and Medicaid. The federal requirements say menus must be reviewed by the facility's dietitian or other clinically qualified nutrition professional for nutritional adequacy; that therapeutic diets must be prescribed by the attending physician; and that the physician may delegate to a registered or licensed dietitian the task of prescribing a resident's diet, including a therapeutic diet, to the extent state law allows. The wording is the same in the 2017 and 2025 editions; it came in with the 2016 rewrite of the nursing-home requirements, effective 28 November 2016. It says who must review and prescribe; it says nothing about how menus are drafted.
What this means
In US nursing homes, whatever drafts the menu, a qualified nutrition professional has to review it, and a resident's diet is prescribed by a physician or a dietitian the physician has delegated to.
What it does not yet show
One kind of facility in one country; it does not cover hospitals, schools or private clients, and it does not say who writes an individual's day-by-day plan.
What you can check
Open 42 CFR 483.60 in govinfo's 2025 annual edition and find "for nutritional adequacy" in paragraph (c)(6).
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. Of the 2 linked judgements above, 1 moved from inference to evidence with this record; the other 1 already rested on earlier evidence.
Source
U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo) — 42 CFR 483.60, Food and nutrition services (10-1-25 edition; paragraphs (c)(6) and (e) as adopted at 81 FR 68861, 4 October 2016, effective 28 November 2016) · verified 2026-10-15 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-15 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.