Medically Tailored Meals
Healthful delivered meals can avert hospital stays and save billions per year.
A National Institutes of Health–funded study printed in JAMA Network Open showed delivering “medically tailored” meals to the more than 6.3 million eligible people in America with chronic conditions and physical limitations could prevent 1.6 million hospitalizations and save the U.S. healthcare system almost $13.6 billion per year.
For people with health limitations that make it difficult for them to shop and cook for themselves, a diet-sensitive meal program like this could serve as a strategy for improving health and well-being. The analysis, which includes adults covered by private health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, estimates that insurance coverage of 10 customized and fully prepared, medically tailored meals per week to individuals could cost $298.7 billion over 10 years, but it could prevent nearly 18.3 million hospitalizations and save $185.1 billion in a decade.
See also: Free Student Meals in Schools
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, is a James Beard Award–winning food journalist, dietitian and author of the cookbook Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sport + Adventure (VeloPress 2016). He has written for dozens of magazines, including Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness.
