A coalition of California nonprofits is asking the state for funding to deliver medically tailored meals to the doors of low-income California residents living with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. If the coalition’s request for $9 million in funding over three years is approved, it would be the first multi-organization, multi-county, multi-disease pilot in the country—and it could have a significant impact on healthcare costs and health outcomes. (The approved budget apparently included $6 million.) Earlier work in Philadelphia showed promising results. After delivering three medically tailored meals per day to 65 patients with different chronic illnesses for six months, researchers found that the health care costs for those patients dropped from $38,937 per month to $28,183 per month, and were 55% lower than the costs of a comparison group. The frequency of hospital admissions and length of hospital stays also declined.
Source: Civil Eats, 6/15/17, Food as Medicine
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