Header Text
Body paragraph text. The case for health care payers and providers to focus on nutrition is becoming increasingly compelling, to improve patient outcomes.
Accordion One
Nutrition interventions work. From diabetes control to cardiovascular health, evidence shows that food-based approaches improve health, reduce hospitalizations and emergency department visits, and improve quality of life.
Accordion Two
Clinicians know that food choices shape health journeys. Yet for too many patients, the path to healthy eating is blocked by multiple barriers they cannot overcome alone. A nationally representative survey of US adults has shown that barriers like cost, time, lack of access to grocery stores, and confusion about what “healthy” really means or how to cook healthy foods are common and systemic. Health care is positioned to help address these challenges by making access to affordable, nutritious food and education part of the standard of care for the right patients in the right circumstances.
Accordion Three
Disparities in nutrition and diet-sensitive diseases are well documented by income, education, geography, race, ethnicity, and disability. Programs that expand the ability of individuals to eat a healthy diet in underserved communities can close these gaps and help achieve health equity. The health care system has a role to play in closing these gaps by integrating FIM programs into the care of such at-risk, historically marginalized patients.
Pull quote text. Food is Medicine (FIM) represents a range of food-based interventions and services designed to prevent, manage, and treat diet-sensitive health conditions and reduce health disparities, integrated within the health care setting.
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Additional Resource Box
Provides a comprehensive suite of evidence-based resources designed to help healthcare professionals, researchers, and policymakers operationalize FIM. These resources are categorized into clinical training, implementation toolkits, and policy evidence.
Dark Blue Callout Box
MTM and MTG are prescribed based on specific medical needs and delivered as part of a clinical care plan, typically in consultation with and after evaluation by an RDN. Eligibility typically includes the presence of certain diet-sensitive conditions. Some state Medicaid 1115 programs have introduced additional categories of nutrition services, such as medically supportive meals or groceries. Distinctions between these services and MTM or MTG are not consistently defined.
Light Blue Callout Box
MTM and MTG are prescribed based on specific medical needs and delivered as part of a clinical care plan, typically in consultation with and after evaluation by an RDN. Eligibility typically includes the presence of certain diet-sensitive conditions. Some state Medicaid 1115 programs have introduced additional categories of nutrition services, such as medically supportive meals or groceries. Distinctions between these services and MTM or MTG are not consistently defined.