NourishedRx Introduces Its Food Benefits Management Platform

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Partnering with Google Health, NourishedRx Platform Accelerates Compliance with Latest Interoperability Standards

STAMFORD, Conn. - January 9, 2023 - NourishedRx, a digital healthcare company that addresses diet-related disease and food insecurity for the Medicare Advantage and Medicaid populations, announced today that after months of testing and gathering results working with vulnerable health plan members across the country, its new food benefits management platform is live. Results demonstrate improved health outcomes, member engagement, health plan retention, and reduced medical spend.

NourishedRx, built on Google Cloud, leverages the Google Healthcare API to deliver an  interoperable platform aligned with Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards that many payers and health systems use for exchanging healthcare information. Google Cloud's technology provides NourishedRx a secure environment to scale, innovate, and leverage data to personalize food solutions to support chronic disease management and address health related social needs. In addition, by using Google Cloud’s Healthcare API to power its food benefits management platform, NourishedRx is ahead of the curve with respect to the latest interoperability standards set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Effectively tackling the hunger and nutrition issues that are so fundamental to people’s overall health takes a combination of food, people, and technology,” said Lauren Driscoll, chief executive officer of NourishedRx. “We chose Google as they are committed to best-in-class technology, and they are relentlessly innovating. Google’s platform enables us to seamlessly integrate with health care partners as well as to analyze thousands of data points to optimize personalized food solutions for patients.” 

Studies have shown that decreasing food insecurity and boosting access and consumption of nutritious food leads to 70 percent fewer hospital admissions, 52 percent fewer hospital readmissions, and a 40 percent decrease in healthcare expenditures. NourishedRx unlocks the untapped potential of nutrition by integrating culturally relevant, clinically-tailored meals and diet education into the health care payment and delivery system, thereby improving the health of patients and lowering health plan spending at scale. NourishedRx's platform matches at-risk members with food solutions supervised by registered dietitians - whether they are meal kits, groceries, or prepared foods. 

Since 2019, NourishedRx has worked with numerous health plans across the country including national Medicare Advantage plans to help members with congestive heart failure and uncontrolled diabetes who are at-risk of food insecurity. It also has partnered with Medicaid managed care plans, supporting BIPOC birthing mothers and their households. Results demonstrate improved engagement, improved health plan retention, improved health outcomes, and reduced medical spending. With its Google-powered food benefits management platform, NourishedRx is building off of its established success and gearing up to support more members, across more states, and across more clinical conditions with straightforward plug-and-play data sharing and workflow integration.

“Because of the FHIR interoperability embedded into our food benefits management platform, health plan and health system partners can easily send referrals to NourishedRx from their care management systems and EHRs at scale,” said Hari Kolasani, chief technology officer of NourishedRx. “They can also share medical conditions, labs, and medications using secure APIs, so NourishedRx's platform can match the members and patients with the best food solution for them.”

NourishedRx is one of the earliest healthcare technology platforms in the nation to leverage the SDOH Gravity project framework to address food insecurity. NourishedRx is the only Food Benefits Platform that both supports members in the optimal use of their existing health plan food and nutrition benefits and provides access to local, culturally-specific, community-based food purveyors ranging from Halal grocers to Vietnamese kitchens. 

About NourishedRx

NourishedRx is the first smart, Food-as-Medicine market platform designed to drive lasting dietary change for health plan members. The ISO/IEC 27001 certified platform unlocks the untapped potential of nutrition by integrating clinically tailored meals, groceries, and diet education into the health care payment and delivery system – thereby improving the health of patients and lowering health plan spending at scale. NourishedRx's platform matches at-risk members with Registered Dietitian-vetted food solutions, and leverages behavioral science to support lasting dietary change and, ultimately, improved health outcomes. NourishedRx procures high-quality, culturally-relevant meal offerings personalized to members' tastes and circumstances and oversees the entire member experience, from food education and selection, to enjoy in their homes. Nourished Rx was founded in 2019 by Lauren Driscoll, a veteran health care executive, and is funded by S2G Ventures, Route 66 Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, and Primetime Partners, as well as notable healthcare angel investors such as Tom Scully, former Administrator of Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Nick Loporcaro, former CEO of Landmark Health.

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Emily Poe

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