Food is medicine (FIM) programs, including food assistance, ProduceRx, and medically tailored meals/groceries, can aid in the prevention, management, and treatment of diet-related chronic conditions and save billions of dollars in healthcare costs. Integrating FIM into healthcare settings can complement clinical care and promote greater treatment success; yet, few, if any, models exist for successfully implementing a FIM program into a healthcare setting. Rural populations face additional challenges with respect to healthcare delivery and access to FIM. This objective of this abstract is to describe the successful implementation of a FIM program in a hospital in rural South Carolina, with a focus on describing how expansions of reimbursement for FIM-related services and additional support tools can be used to improve participant access and program success.

For the past year, the hospital has collaborated with a team experienced in lifestyle medicine research to plan the implementation of a FIM program and conduct a pilot and feasibility study to assess its success. Our experience suggests that FIM interventions can be successfully delivered in clinical settings with the support of other participant tools and resources, specifically: (1) the development of a healthy food pharmacy at the hospital and funds to use for fresh produce purchases via Instacart (2) access to a culinary medicine course delivered at the hospital to teach about preparing nutritious foods to support better health; (3) use of a platform to provide weekly check-ins to identify whether participants are experiencing barriers to successfully participating in the program; (4) use of a platform that helps to screen eligibility for benefits and federal assistance programs and connect participants to these programs when eligible; (5) access to a participant care coordinator who serves as a resource for participants.

To successfully expand FIM offerings, reimbursement of the programmatic elements supporting the healthy food delivery component of a FIM program as well as ancillary tools and resources is critical. Such tools are not typically reimbursed through private insurance and/or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Future research should evaluate long-term consequences of discreet FIM interventions, and policy-makers should promote expansion of reimbursement for FIM programming to reach a rural population in a way that is impactful and sustainable.