Food Is Medicine is Catching On, but More Still Needs to be Done
by Karen Pearl
Food fuels our brain and body, helps us maintain familial and cultural traditions, and supports self-care through nourishment and nutrition. For millions of low-income families, healthy food is difficult to come by due to food deserts and lack of access to healthy options, which tend to be costlier. For those who are chronically or severely ill, the case worsens as physical access serves as yet another barrier to nutrition. Medically tailored meals — meals designed by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN), tailored to a person’s nutrition needs through an in-depth assessment and delivered to their home — solve this situation.
Despite the need for nutrition, this method of obtaining and distributing these individually tailored meals and nutrition guidance has not been integrated into our healthcare system. The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC), an association of medically tailored food and nutrition service providers, aims to bridge this gap through multiple approaches. Through policy change, promoting research, sharing best practices, and providing evidence of the successes of the medically tailored meal (MTM) intervention, the Coalition disrupts the current food and nutrition narrative.
Although these objectives have garnered some support from collaborations among nutrition nonprofits, academic medical centers, and state policymakers, there is a lack of funding that is necessary to reach our goals. Federal funding does not reach medically tailored meal (MTM) organizations unless an individual has HIV, and most agencies raise the majority of their funding on their own. This is not due to a lack of demand for services — growth is often in the double digits for MTM programs and many are forced to create waiting lists. For individuals who do receive MTM services, research overwhelmingly supports the efficacy of this intervention. At God’s Love We Deliver, the MTM agency that I lead, we see the need and the outcomes firsthand.
This year, God’s Love and other FIMC agencies have served 56,000 clients with over 12 million meals. Research shows that, after 18 months of access to nutritious meals, emergency visits drop by 30 percent, hospitalization rates are cut in half, and net healthcare costs are reduced by 16 percent. This year, we’ve also seen momentum on a national scale with a Food is Medicine Working Group formed in the U.S. House of Representatives in January, a MTM Congressional briefing in May, and a MTM pilot amendment filed in the U.S. Senate Farm Bill in July. There is, however, still more work to be done in this space.
The most effective way to move forward and bring life-saving meals to the sickest in our communities is through federal policy change. By establishing coverage for MTMs in Medicaid and Medicare, promoting research on MTMs, and protecting investments in the Ryan White Program, which supports individuals with HIV, we can effectively change the conversation surrounding food and nutrition and their role in reducing costs and improving outcomes for our healthcare system.
Karen Pearl is President & CEO of God’s Love We Deliver.
