Medical Home Network, Partners Launch Nation’s Most Comprehensive Healthy Food Delivery Study Among Medicaid Recipients


Excerpt

The first Chicagoan received a box of fresh produce March 20, 2023 as part of a pilot produce prescription program run by a partnership between Medical Home Network (MHN), Top Box Foods and Alivio Medical Center (AMC).

The project, funded by a grant from the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program-Produce Prescription Program, is designed to determine if providing home-delivered fruits and vegetables, in tandem with care coordination and health coaching, can improve the health and food security of hypertensive Medicaid patients while lowering care costs.

Each project partner brings the unique expertise needed to make it a success. Top Box Foods has a breadth of experience in food distribution and food access initiatives, MHN has deep care coordination and data analytics experience, and AMC has been delivering care across 10 Chicago communities for over 30 years. Combining those specialties gives this program a recipe for success.

“Delivering healthy food is important, but if you don’t know how to cut or cook the produce provided, it’s not as helpful as it could be,” said Connor DeLoach, Top Box Foods executive director. “Providing health coaching and education is a really important feature of the program. The intention surrounding this partnership goes beyond just food access to creating lifelong benefits for participants, which is exciting and where this field is going.”

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