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Association of nonprofit, medically-tailored FNS providers seeking to preserve & expand coverage of FNS for the critically-ill clients that we serve

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Food is Medicine Coalition

  • Who We Are
    • Our Model
    • Partners
    • Our Impact
    • Quarterly Meetings
    • Join Our Team
    • News
    • Contact Us/Press
  • Policy
    • Our Policy Work
    • The MTM Demonstration Act
    • White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health
    • Healthcare Innovation
    • Policy Comments
  • Research
    • Existing MTM Research
    • Food Is Medicine Research Action Plan
    • MTM Cost Modelling Study
  • Capacity Building
    • Advocacy Capacity Building Project
    • Food is Medicine Accelerator
  • Donate

FIMC Supports the CMS Health-Related Social Needs Medicaid and CHIP Coverage Guidance

November 17, 2023 Alissa Wassung

On November 16, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced their Action to Improve Health and Wellbeing by Addressing Social Determinants of Health. As part of this initiative, CMS released an Informational Bulletin, including an attached table, that describes the coverage pathways for services and supports to address health-related social needs (HRSN) in Medicaid and CHIP.

The Food is Medicine Coalition, a nationwide coalition of providers serving individuals with severe, complex, or chronic illness, strongly supports this guidance clarifying how nutrition interventions can be deployed in Medicaid 1115 waivers and beyond.  

The guidance resolves several key policies challenges impacting nutrition provision, most notably:

Clarification of the 6-month Service Limit for Nutrition Interventions (1115 Demonstrations): This update expands on previous CMS guidance that limited nutrition interventions covered under 1115 demonstrations to a six-month duration. Now, all nutrition interventions that involve the direct provision of food – “home delivered meals or pantry stocking,” “nutrition prescriptions,” and “grocery provisions” – can be provided for up to six months and “may be renewed for additional 6-month periods if the state determines the beneficiary still meets the clinical and needs-based criteria.” This update follows best clinical practice standards, mirrors the research to date, and enables care teams to employ their clinical judgement regarding the most effective nutrition intervention for their patients.

Other key updates are:

Household Level Nutrition Services (1115 Demonstrations):  Previously, nutrition interventions were limited to the primary enrollee. Now, CMS notes for “home delivered meals or pantry stocking” and for “nutrition prescriptions” that “additional [ ] support may be permitted under 1115 demonstrations when provided to the household of a child identified as high risk or a pregnant individual…for up the duration of a pregnancy plus two months postpartum.” This supports the household-level nutrition interventions approved and provided in Massachusetts’ most recent 1115 HRSN demonstration, showcasing a holistic, patient-driven approach to ensure the nutrition needs of the household can be met.

Home and Community-based Services (HCBS) Authorities for Nutrition Services: CMS confirms that “pantry stocking,” “nutrition prescriptions,” and “grocery provisions” are allowable services under HCBS authorities, which highlights that interventions beyond prepared meals are allowable.

These sound policy updates will improve the health of medically vulnerable Americans across the nation by providing medically tailored nutrition in a clinically appropriate manner. More importantly, by expanding access, we expect that this guidance will work to reduce health disparities and bring down healthcare costs as the wellbeing of recipients improves in the years to come.

We look forward to working with CMS and the Biden Administration to implement the proposed guidance and further invest in programs that ensure people have access to the medically tailored nutrition they need.

For a more comprehensive summary of the updated guidance, please visit the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation’s website.

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The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is a national coalition of nonprofit organizations that provide medically tailored meals (MTMs) and medically tailored groceries, medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling and education to people in communities across the country living with severe, complex and chronic illnesses. We advance equitable access to these life-saving interventions through policy change, research and evaluation, and best practices. FIMC agencies created the medically tailored meal model and maintain the nutrition standards for the intervention. We offer a diverse community of learning for existing practitioners and equip new organizations to launch medically tailored meal programs.  

Tags #foodismedicine

Nature publishes paper on the power of food is medicine by FIMC, CDC, CHLPI and the Tufts Friedman School

October 7, 2022 Alissa Wassung

Yesterday, Nature published a new collaborative commentary by Heidi M. Blanck and Ruth Petersen, of the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, Katie Garfield of the Center for Health Law and Policy at Harvard Law School, Dariush Mozaffarian of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and our Executive Director, Alissa Wassung, of the Food Is Medicine Coalition. The paper posits that the twin concepts of nutrition security and a greater focus on food is medicine interventions can help us build a more efficient and equitable healthcare system, by increasing access to nourishing foods across the lifespan.

 Read the full paper here.

Following on the heels of the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, as well as the Biden-Harris Administration National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, the paper draws further attention to the power and promise of life-saving interventions like medically tailored meals and the need to more fully incorporate them into our healthcare system to see the benefits on a population level.

FIMC was pleased that the Biden-Harris administration stood by its commitment to advance health equity in the National Strategy by highlighting the importance of access to medically tailored meals in our nationwide effort to address diet-related illness and treatment. The Strategy supported legislative pilots to test covering medically tailored meals for individuals in traditional Medicare who are experiencing diet-related health conditions and promises increased guidance and authority from CMS for states wishing to use Medicaid section 1115 demonstration projects to test the expansion of coverage for food is medicine interventions. We know that the increased attention and resources will further our existing efforts in this space. FIMC agencies have been at the forefront of ongoing efforts to expand access to MTM and other food is medicine interventions over the past decade, and we look forward to continuing this critical work on a variety of fronts to build a more resilient and patient-centered healthcare system.

Tags #foodismedicine, #nature

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