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Today in Health it we're discussing Food Is Medicine Network launched to transform nutrition and health outcomes. My name's Kate Gamble. I'm managing editor at this week Health where we host a set of channels and events dedicated to transforming healthcare one connection at a time. This episode is brought to you by Chrome OS. Imagine a healthcare system where technology works seamlessly in the background, keeping your data secure, your teams connected, and your patients at the center of care. Visit This Week Health slash Google Chrome OS to learn more. I'm joined by Sarah Richardson, President of Community Development here at This Week Health.

Sarah, welcome to the show. Thank you, Kate. So today we're discussing a groundbreaking initiative in healthcare, the launch of the Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence by Tufts University and Kaiser Permanente. This network aims to revolutionize how we approach nutrition and health. Absolutely.

The collaboration is bringing together major healthcare organizations. to integrate food based interventions into standard medical care. So I want to talk about the five key highlights of this initiative and explore some of the significance for healthcare CIOs and our industry at large.

Okay, so Tufts University's Food is Medicine Institute and Kaiser Permanente have partnered to create the Food is Medicine National Network of Excellence. And this coalition includes Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, CVS Health, Devoted Health, Elevance Health, Geisinger, and Highmark Health.

So some pretty big names getting in on this. Those are some very big names. And for health care CIOs, this signifies a unified effort to standardize and implement nutrition based health care practices. But collaborating with such a diverse group can lead to the development of interoperable systems, shared data standards, and enhancing patient care across the board.

All of which are extremely important. And the network emphasizes interventions like medically tailored meals and produce prescriptions. So these programs provide patients, especially those with diet related conditions, access to nutritious foods as part of their treatment plan. And integrating these programs requires robust IT support.

So for the CIOs, they're going to need to ensure that the EHRs can track and manage these interventions that facilitate seamless communication between healthcare providers, nutritionists, And I also have to believe, Kate, that there's going to be an element of what I would call availability, because we know that a lot of these programs are going to help to also serve underserved populations, and they don't always have access to some of the foods that may be on that list.

Food deserts are real in some of these urban areas, and those conversations will also create awareness on the accessibility of some of the things that are being prescribed. Yeah, that's a really important point. And one of the network's primary goals is to create a framework to assess the impact of food as medicine interventions, and this involves conducting studies with member organizations to evaluate outcomes and cost effectiveness, and it seems like this is really important when you're putting together a program like this.

And every article you and I cover almost every today show is sharing the opportunity for CIOs to lead with data analytics and also health informatics. So when we think about developing these systems that accurately capture and analyze data from these interventions, A team can provide these actionable insights.

They're driving policy and clinical decisions. They're focusing on quality and outcomes. They're creating some of that consumer stickiness aspect to the patient relationship. And when you have healthy, robust data that you can trust, you end up with healthy, robust relationships that are trusted by the patient as well.

And you mentioned food insecurity. I want to talk a little bit more about that. So according to NIH, 12. 5 percent of U. S. households are food insecure, meaning they have limited access to either adequate or affordable nutritious foods. The deserts that you talked about, and that is such a big number.

Yeah, the whole conversation about tackling food insecurity on such scale. requires a significant coordination of efforts that are supported by technology. I go back to the CIO hat, which a crucial role in all of this is platforms that are connecting patients with the appropriate resources that are tracking their intervention outcomes, but also protecting their data privacy and security needs because it's already very humbling.

To share that you have food insecurity and you want to make sure that's not knowledge. It's necessarily readily available unless you're willing to share it now. Granted, when you're having conversations with your care providers, that's part of the expectation that safety is there. And yet, when it affects what's happening at home outside of your health, It also can be shameful for people, and there's been so much research about, you're embarrassed to say that you can't afford these foods or certain aspects of your care, and it's not because you don't want to.

There are so many factors that may be against people having access to some of these resources that when you do make it available. Not only do you want them to trust it, you also want to create a space that says if they learn to be comfortable with it being part of the solution, if they are comfortable with becoming dependent upon it, you have to, as a leader, as a CIO, as a CEO, anybody running those health systems and even those health plans, you have to make sure that it's there for them.

It's not something that can be available for a couple of years and then goes away because then you're creating a different problem with the larger one you were endeavoring to solve in the first place. Yeah, that's a really important point. And the same stigma we see with mental health, you're going to see it here with something like food insecurity, especially when you're talking about people who maybe can't provide for their children, that's a whole, there's a whole other component to that.

So it's really important, like you said, to make sure that those are safe conversations. And there's also, we also need to talk about the bottom line. The study suggests that implementing medically tailored meal programs could save payers 13. 6%, 13. 6 billion annually by reducing hospitalizations and associated costs.

So that's a pretty significant number. It is a significant number. And especially for the healthcare industry right now. This continues to underscore financial benefits of preventative care models and how you can advocate for and implement technology that supports these programs and demonstrating how investments in IT or in technology can lead to substantial cost savings and improved patient outcomes.

It's really hard to launch. New products and services within your health care system if you don't have the infrastructure, the talent and the capability behind the scenes, you're just adding new pieces to something that could be a crumbling scenario. And as a CIO, I used to always say, if we're going to bring on something new and formative, let's make sure not only our teams are capable of handling the workload, let's make sure our infrastructure is capable of handling the extra load that's coming with that as well.

And it may be newer solutions that require some start over. It may be a newer solution that's going to have some creativity on the backend to make sure it integrates as appropriate, but you don't want these new opportunities to be band aided into your older environment. Look at these new frontiers as a way to also be modernizing your infrastructure so that it is a program that can continue.

So it is something that people feel safe and aware of. And so I love that. This can be something that is not only beneficial for the organization from a patient and consumerism and to a degree savings model, but also a way that keeps your environment whole. So you can always be forward thinking to take care of your patients, both where they are today, but where they need to be in the future.

Yeah, really well said. And as you had alluded to before, It's important to have the right infrastructure, the right strategy in place so that this isn't a short term solution because, food insecurity is not a short term problem. So I would say that, in summary, the food Insecurity is Medicine National Network of Excellence really does represent a transformative shift toward integrating nutrition into healthcare.

And for CIOs, this initiative offers a unique opportunity to lead in the development of systems and technologies that support food based medical interventions and to really lean into the social determinant space. Yes, and if you embrace this current movement, whether you're a CIO, CISO, CMIO, whatever your role is in that organization as a leader of both technology and of patient advocacy, you can enhance the patient care, drive down costs, position your organization at the forefront of innovative healthcare solutions.

And let's be honest, this is the right thing to do. I'm pretty sure that if I was in a. prescription model for the things I should be eating today. If someone said, make sure you have a banana and make sure you have an orange and make sure you have this much water. We all know that's the right thing to do.

It's nice to be reminded. And it's even better when your care team is a part of that decision making process. And let's be honest, it's expensive to eat healthy. It really is. And if that awareness factor continues to be part of the, how we make people healthier, then let's keep talking about it. Yeah, that's a great way to end.

It's the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do. So don't forget to share this podcast with a friend or colleague. Use it as a foundation for daily or weekly discussions on the topics that are relevant to you and the industry. They can subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

And that's a wrap.