In July 2025, a nonprofit in Western New York started taking advantage of the state’s Medicaid 1115 waiver to support its mission of increasing access to healthy food and nutrition education. A year later, the small nonprofit, with a staff of seven, is delivering healthy food boxes and meals to…
Posts published in “Food is Medicine”
After only one year of having a nutrition policy, Ferndale Food Bank of Washington state can’t imagine operating without one. Getting a nutrition policy in place went hand in hand with maturing from a very small operation into one that now serves nearly 300 people a week. As demand grew,…
The Greater Boston Food Bank has always seen itself as a trailblazer in prioritizing health and nutrition in food banking. It was among the earliest, if not the first, to have a physician on staff, to have registered dietitians, and to have a nutrition policy. A recently announced four-year, $4…
GUEST OPINION BY AMY QAZI OF SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK OF MIDDLE TENNESSEE – Food insecurity is closely tied to chronic disease, and healthcare systems across the country are increasingly integrating social drivers of health screening into clinical care. However, screening alone is not enough. Healthcare providers must also have…
Some of the things that make Food is Medicine attractive to community-based organizations also make it attractive to for-profit companies. Both, for example, would like to use the insurance reimbursements they get for providing healthy food to help sustain their operations. That tension has helped propel an action plan designed…
Reinvestment Partners has been on a mission to make its produce-prescription program a standard healthcare service that can be reimbursed by insurers. The results of its latest clinical trial move it one step closer to that goal, with some caveats. The Durham, N.C.-based nonprofit announced in November that a randomized…
It took several months to get going, but Feeding Westchester is now humming along with an initiative that uses Medicaid dollars to deliver nutritious food to the doors of eligible residents. Every Wednesday morning, the Elmsford, N.Y.-based food bank oversees the distribution of hundreds of boxes of medically tailored food…
Like many hunger relief organizations, God’s Love We Deliver recently put language at the top of its website to help individuals navigate the new SNAP restrictions. It also highlighted a less-common avenue of help – food assistance through Medicaid. Individuals can now go to a page on GLWD’s site where…
A Food is Medicine program at Albany, NY-based Regional Food Bank is succeeding in helping diabetes patients measurably improve their health. The food bank’s 12-week Food Farmacy program provides patient households with weekly boxes of healthy food, along with weekly virtual nutrition counseling sessions. Results show patients significantly improving their…