Scaling Food as Medicine Across Populations and Geography

Over the past decade, diverse Food as Medicine (also called Food is Medicine) interventions have been implemented across the U.S. and demonstrated positive health-related outcomes. However, there are significant barriers to scaling Food as Medicine to ensure that each patient is able to participate in the program most appropriate for their health needs, which may range from medically tailored meals to groceries to produce prescriptions. The goal of this project is to build partnerships and conduct formative research aimed at scaling Food as Medicine as a strategy to address the inter-related challenges of nutrition insecurity and health equity. In 2022, California approved an 1115/1915(b) waiver, known as CalAIM, which includes Food As Medicine as one of 14 pre-approved services that Medi-Cal managed care plans are permitted to offer. However, there has been very low uptake of this opportunity. There is an urgent need to identify effective ways to scale Food as Medicine across California and ultimately nationally. This project solicits insights from health experts and food organizations to identify barriers and facilitators to scaling food as medicine programs across diverse geography and populations. Our team will develop and pilot test a ‘Food as Medicine Network' designed to directly overcome the documented challenges to scaling. The network will receive patient referrals from healthcare organizations, match patients with the appropriate Food as Medicine program, connect patients with the food organization(s) that provides that program, and process the reimbursement from the indicated health plan. The network will further facilitate research to understand effectiveness, and, importantly, heterogeneity of effects by patient characteristics, geographic setting, and other factors.

Partners

Anthem Blue Cross

At Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield we understand our health connects us to each other. What we all do impacts those around us. So Anthem is dedicated to delivering better care to our members, providing greater value to our customers and helping improve the health of our communities.

Visit their website

Partners in Care Foundation

Partners aligns social care and health care to address the social determinants of health and equity disparities affecting diverse, under-served and vulnerable populations. We value diversity, and all are welcome at Partners.

We are proud to be an LGBTQ friendly organization.

Visit their website