Poor nutrition contributes to heart disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity and mental-health disorders, and it undermines wellbeing in communities across the country. Traditional interventions rarely put food at the center of care, and those that do often limit support to short-term meal delivery or produce vouchers. Diet-focused health interventions, or “Food-is-Health” programs, offer a more ambitious solution for payers and providers. They combine medically tailored food with ongoing education, coaching, and social support so that participants can adopt and sustain healthier habits. By meeting patients where they are and addressing both physical and behavioral health, these programs improve outcomes and reduce costs. Importantly, they can be integrated into population-health strategies, disease management, and quality-improvement initiatives.
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Without support and guidance, it can seem impossible to change eating habits, lose weight, and regain health. But Michael, a single father in Minneapolis, Minnesota, experienced a remarkable and inspiring turnaround in his mid-60s.
Each year, billions of pounds of fresh produce are thrown away because of odd size or shape even as tens of millions of Americans go hungry. But as Evan put it, “At Hungry Harvest, we use one problem to solve the other. We purchase surplus produce from local farms and wholesalers, assemble it into variety boxes, and deliver it to our customers through a weekly subscription model. And for every box we deliver, we donate a healthy meal to someone in need.”
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More than 3.7 million women give birth in the US every year, and over 40% of those births are funded by Medicaid. When we combine nutritious, culturally relevant meals with personalized nutrition education and health coaching, moms and babies experience better health, and pregnancy-related medical costs go down for Medicaid families.
Food is Health programs not only help meet the needs of people with food insecurity and chronic illness—they also support a healthier food system and strengthen communities. That kind of broad-reaching impact can’t be created or sustained by one organization or agency alone, however. Farmer Foodshare’s mission-driven efforts show what innovative systems, community involvement, and good-old-fashioned people power can accomplish.
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Over 70% of diabetes cases in the US are due to poor diet, and 1 in 5 people with diabetes are food insecure. Access to healthy food, nutrition coaching and education, and social support helps people with or at risk of type 2 diabetes manage their condition, significantly improve their health, and gain more personal agency over their lives. NourishedRx partnered with a mid-sized health plan to develop and implement a Food is Medicine program targeting members in Marion County, IN with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes (HbA1c values of 8.0% or above) and more likely to be at risk of food insecurity. This program spanned across multiple lines of business, including Medicaid, Employer, and Medicare.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a diet-sensitive, chronic progressive condition that affects more than 5 million people in the US,1 especially affecting older, food-insecure adults. Increasing access to healthy food and nutrition education is crucial to this population's overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life. NourishedRx partnered with Humana to test the impact of Food is Health programs for members of Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans living with CHF and who were food insecure.
The health of America’s children is in crisis. Today, over 20% of U.S. youth are classified as obese and the early signs of chronic disease are showing up younger and more frequently. These alarming patterns are closely linked to food insecurity, limited access to nutritious options, and the growing prevalence of ultra-processed diets—especially in communities living in food deserts. The consequences aren’t just individual—they’re generational. At NourishedRx, we’re advancing family-centered nutrition programs that empower households to build healthier habits together. Food-focused care—centered around families—can drive lasting change for this generation and the next.
38 million people in the US are living with diabetes—and over 70% of diabetes cases are linked to poor diet. Access to medically-tailored meals, healthy food, nutrition coaching, education, and social support helps people with diabetes or pre-diabetes manage their conditions, significantly improve their health, and gain more personal agency over their lives.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a diet-sensitive, chronic progressive condition that affects more than 5 million people in the US,1 especially affecting older, food-insecure adults. Increasing access to healthy food and nutrition education is crucial to this population's overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life. NourishedRx partnered with Humana to test the impact of Food is Health programs for members of Medicare Advantage and Special Needs Plans living with CHF and who were food insecure.
Health plans are leveraging Food is Medicine programs to address chronic disease and food insecurity, support behavioral health and transition to community living, and improve member enrollment and engagement. In this panel discussion, ACAP partners Alliance Health, Hennepin Health, and South Country Health Alliance share their experience working with NourishedRx and the real-life impact these programs have had on their members and the communities they serve.
In 2024, NourishedRx found a new partner in RAMS Kitchen, a healthy food services organization in Gastonia, North Carolina. Together, we’ve been supporting Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (Blue Cross NC) members living with diabetes by providing medically tailored meals, groceries, and nutrition counseling to help improve clinical outcomes and enhance quality of life.
NourishedRx partners with Wake County and Farmer Foodshare to provide fresh, healthy food to the community.
Access to nutritious food is essential for good health, but for many Wake County residents living with chronic illnesses, fresh produce and protein are often out of reach. Nourishing Wake, a new program launched by Wake County in partnership with NourishedRx, is changing that by providing free, twice-monthly deliveries of fresh, locally sourced food to more than 1,000 vulnerable households.
Hear firsthand from our Care Team as they share their experiences working in the Food is Health space.
As the prevalence of diet-related chronic disease rises, so does the risk of heart disease. Personalized nutrition interventions can help individuals living with heart disease make sustainable lifestyle changes that enable them to manage their condition, improve their physical and mental health, and increase their overall quality of life.
In Wake County – the most populous in North Carolina – many residents face limited access to fresh food, chronic diseases linked to poor nutrition, and transportation barriers that make accessing healthy options difficult. At the same time, local farmers struggle with farmland loss, with nearly 20% of Wake County’s farm and forest land disappearing in just nine years.
Join the Center for Advancing Healthy Communities at NACDD for an insightful webinar that explores the powerful connection between nutrition and overall well-being. We will be joined by NourishedRx, a purpose-built, integrated “Food is Health” platform and Health Management Associates (HMA), a national research and consulting firm specializing in publicly-funded healthcare and human services programs, financing, and evaluation.
At NourishedRx, we're on a mission to drive health – one meal, one individual, and one community at a time. And we're proud to say we made some exciting progress in 2024, including closing a Series A funding round and a 142% increase in the new member enrollment in our comprehensive nutrition programs.
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Sheena knew that getting the proper nourishment during her pregnancy would be challenging given her food allergies, so she reached out to her health plan. That's when she discovered that she qualified for a new nutrition program for food-insecure pregnant women offered through her plan by NourishedRx.
NourishedRx offers a proven, culturally tailored approach to food-as-medicine, helping you address chronic disease, reduce costs, and improve member satisfaction and retention.
Are you looking to turn your Medicare Advantage benefits into a catalyst for better member health outcomes, health equity, and reduced costs? Recent studies highlight how incorporating Food-as-Medicine solutions decreases rehospitalization rates and medical costs, making it crucial for innovative Medicare Advantage providers.
As 2024 rushes to an end, I wanted to take time to reflect on the past 12 months at NourishedRx and celebrate our accomplishments as a team. In important ways, it’s been a watershed year for our company and for broader awareness of the transformative power of nutrition in health, chronic illness, sustained wellbeing, and community resilience.
Meet Lauren Driscoll. Lauren is the Founder and CEO of NourishedRx, a digital health company that teams up with health plans to provide customized and nutritious meals to the people who need it most.
Food-as-medicine programs can play a powerful role in helping members manage and sustain their transition to less restrictive or fully independent living situations.
In our search for the best-prepared meal providers in the area, Kenny's Meals immediately stood out. Working with Kenny Garcia and his team has been great for everyone, especially our program participants, who get to enjoy Kenny’s delicious, healthy meals.
When a New Jersey-based Health plan enlisted NourishedRx to support nutrition-insecure birthing individuals in the state, we immediately looked for local partners who could help deliver fresh, healthy produce and meals. Fairgrown Farm fit the bill.
The future state: improving access to nutrition services, impact on chronic disease management, and how food-as-medicine companies can scale up
NourishedRx member Devon shares his story
Why does America have the highest per capita healthcare costs in the world and the lowest life expectancy among the most economically prosperous (OECD) nations? Our healthcare system still struggles to effectively prevent, address, and manage chronic illness, especially in vulnerable populations.
Vic interviews guest expert Lauren Driscoll, CEO of NourishedRx, To learn about the importance of personalized nutrition in achieving health equity. NourishRx provides nutrition and food access to vulnerable populations, integrating with various partners to deliver tailored programs. By addressing food insecurity, NourishRx aims to improve health outcomes, drive down medical costs, and enhance patient engagement with health plans and providers.
April is National Minority Health Month. In addition to helping increase appreciation for the unique health challenges that people from minority communities face, we’d like to draw particular attention to the role of nutrition. The unfortunate reality is that minority communities are disproportionately affected by food deserts, food insecurity, and lack of access to quality food – and this has an outsized impact on their health and well-being.
An exclusive interview with Lauren Driscoll, Founder/CEO, NourishedRx.
March is National Kidney Awareness Month. At NourishedRx, we’re proud of the supportive role we play in helping underserved people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) improve their health and live their best lives.
The innovative food-as-medicine platform will help support eligible North Carolinians with serious mental health needs transitioning from institutional care settings to independent living.
NourishedRx Founder and CEO explores a key problem at the heart of both challenges: lack of access to nutritious food in the land of plenty.
February is American Heart Month. 60 years ago, in February 1964, President Lyndon Johnson established the observance to “give heed to the nationwide problem of the heart and blood-vessel diseases, and to support the programs required to bring about its solution.” Congress supported that proclamation with a joint resolution to make it so.
January 23 is Maternal Health Awareness Day. It’s past time we address one of the biggest failings of American healthcare and make pregnancy safer and healthier for women and newborns, especially those from vulnerable Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) populations.
Lauren Driscoll, the founder and CEO of NourishedRx, explains how her organization goes beyond providing meals, focusing on instigating lasting, sustainable dietary changes, and teaching individuals to fish for their health and well-being.
NourishedRx and ProHealth Connect, a healthcare fintech platform, announced a strategic partnership to make nutritious home-delivered food and accompanying nutritional support services available to over 17 million individuals across the country in 2024.
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Spencer and fellow panelists Jenn Kerfoot and Erica Sessle and moderator Nate Worrell contributed their expertise to the Food as Medicine-Taste the Difference session
We demonstrated offering a program of healthy food, nutrition education and health coaching to vulnerable populations of birthing Medicaid members may positively impact maternal and baby health outcomes and lower medical costs related to pregnancy, delivery and infant care.
The expansion follows documented improvements in birth outcomes stemming from a 2021 NourishedRx pilot program with Blue Plus enrollees.
At NourishedRx, we believe diet and nutrition should be a top priority in promoting diabetes prevention and care – because access to quality food is the most effective way to avoid or limit the impact of diabetes and a doorway to better health and lifestyle change.
Every November 11, we honor the veterans of the United States Armed Forces and express our gratitude for their service and sacrifice. It’s past time we also acknowledge the challenges too many veterans face in getting basic needs met, such as access to quality food and nutrition.
National Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the history and cultures of people living in America whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. As we come to the end of that month, we wanted to also acknowledge the socio-economic challenges around food security and nutrition that many Hispanic people in America also experience.
The Helper Bees, America's leading aging-in-place platform, and NourishedRx, a digital health and nutrition company, are announcing that they've delivered more than 30,000 food orders to older adults across the country.
The OPTIMIZE Awards recognize and applaud significant contributions of individuals and organizations worldwide who have made a positive impact in the healthcare industry.
As the founder of a “Food as Medicine” startup, NourishedRx, it was interesting to click on a Pitchbook 3Q Analyst’s Note and see that our sector may be either “overhyped” or the “next frontier.”
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Thanks to NourishedRx's program, Mike's confidence in his own self care has improved. His quality of life on a scale of 100 has more than doubled. By successfully lowering his blood sugar and maintaining healthy levels, he’s been able to eliminate two medications. "I think I am in better health now than I have been in years."
NourishedRx member Martha shares her journey and highlights the role NourishedRx played in reconnecting her to healthy eating habits and transforming her health.
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NourishedRx is a food-as-medicine company that offers dietary assistance for health plans’ members through methods like medically-tailored meals, grocery support and diet education. Through the new platform, NourishedRx is able to communicate with its food partners, health plan customers and members.
Partnering with Google Health, NourishedRx Platform Accelerates Compliance with Latest Interoperability Standards
NourishedRx partners with Hartford HealthCare and Connecticut Innovations to participate in a program that will provide space for the and access to clinicians and the ability to test concepts and products.
7wireVentures and United States of Care are thrilled to announce NourishedRx as the recipient of the 2022 Thomas J. Main Ignite Award. The award, which honors the legacy of the late Thomas J. Main, former Partner at 7wireVentures and founder of the Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center, recognizes an early-stage, innovative start-up contributing to a more affordable and cost-efficient health care system and delivering improved health outcomes for the consumers they serve.
Instacart partners with a variety of organizations, including NourishedRx, to enhance collaborative care with new Care Carts, designed to give healthcare providers and caregivers the ability to order groceries on behalf of someone else.
Funding will enable expansion of the company's high-tech strategy, increase resources for patients and health plan members, deepen partnerships for nationwide access, and grow its executive team.
NourishedRx is a food-as-medicine platform designed to provide personalized food solutions for vulnerable individuals, specifically those with diet sensitive chronic health conditions and at risk of nutritional insecurity.
There are many factors involved in food decisions—from structural access barriers, cultural traditions, and family history to personal taste preferences and preparation style. What’s more, achieving life-long change is challenging and complex.
News & PR
Nutrition services vendors say offering healthy food options and education to at-risk members can result in major medical cost savings for plans.
Project Well, a startup taking a nutritional approach to chronic disease, raised $2 million. The startup plans to target the booming Medicare Advantage market. It works with food vendors and dietitians to get patients to eat healthier and manage conditions.
The old adage “you are what you eat” is one of the most common phrases around, but can our food choices also treat our ailments?
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus (Blue Plus) today announced a new program with Second Harvest Heartland and Project Well to study the impact of comprehensive dietary support on maternal and infant health outcomes.
Financing will expand access to healthy nutrition and counseling, serving the most vulnerable members of the population suffering from chronic disease, food insecurity, and social isolation.
Eighteen months after Lauren Driscoll, CEO and founder of Project Well, came up with her idea at a startup lab, she sealed a deal with venture investment firm Primetime Partners
Health disparities domestically and globally can often be attributed to social determinants of health.
