The Elevance Health Public Policy Institute published a report describing the types of food-as-medicine programs at the insurer Feb. 5. The report surveyed leaders involved in food-as-medicine initiatives across commercial, Medicaid and MA plans provided by Elevance Health. Most of the respondents worked in Medicaid plans.
“Food-as-medicine interventions often focus on medically tailored meals and groceries and produce prescriptions,” Kofi Essel, MD, food-as-medicine program director at Elevance Health, said in a statement shared with Becker’s. “However, this paper also looked at meaningful public nutrition security programs, community-based interventions and personalized nutrition education.”
Here are five things to know about Elevance Health’s food-as-medicine strategy:
- Of the 68 food-as-medicine programs at Elevance Health, half were designed to reach individuals with chronic conditions or diet-sensitive conditions. Another 71% were designed to work at a population-level. There was overlap between these two categories, with 21% of programs having a treatment and population-based component.
- The survey measured six different types of food-as-medicine programs: Medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, produce prescriptions, public nutrition security programs, population food polices and nutrition counseling and education.
- Population food policies and programs and medically tailored meals were the most common types of programs in Elevance Health plans, while fewer plans implemented medically tailored groceries or produce prescriptions.
- “Given the established success of medically tailored meals, we are excited to see the growing effectiveness of medically tailored groceries and produce prescriptions as viable solutions for disease management and addressing food and nutrition insecurity,” Dr. Essel said.
- Elevance Health’s policy recommendations for supporting food-as-medicine initiatives include “expanding flexibilities and funding stability in state and federal programs to support more food-as-medicine benefit offerings and incorporating health insurance providers’ investments in social determinants of health into medical loss ratio calculations,” Dr. Essel said.
Read the full report here.
