Health Condition Support
In 2019 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memo to Medicare Advantage (MA) plan sponsors detailing new benefits that may be offered to enrollees with chronic conditions. It defined the scope under the category of supplemental benefits called “Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill” (SSBCI). Filing a benefit under SSBCI allows health plans to try new, flexible benefit designs for members with chronic conditions. It also allows health plans to use data to identify members for SSBCI benefits.
SSBCI benefit offerings remain steady in special needs plans (SNPs). Some of the most frequently provided SSBCI benefits include food, produce, meals, housing, utilities and transportation for non-medical needs.
Research supports value of home-delivered meals
Data from a Tufts University study published in JAMA Network Open provides even more support for offering nutritional benefits. The study shows two impactful outcomes of offering medically tailored meals to seriously ill people. They can:
- Save the health care industry almost $13.6 billion in costs every year from an insurer perspective
- Avoid 1.6 million hospitalizations annually
3 ways to improve access to quality nutrition through a home-delivered meals benefit
How can health plans offer food, nutrition, and home-delivered meals to members? Here are three approaches MA health plans are using right now:
1. Adding chronic care meal benefits
A study published in the JAMA Health Forum demonstrates the importance of good nutrition for post-discharge healing, especially people living with a chronic condition.
Study participants, who were recently discharged from the hospital, received four weeks of home-delivered meals. Compared to two control groups that didn’t receive a meals benefit, study participants who received the home-delivered meals had lower odds of 30-day hospital readmission and death.
Combining a post-discharge and a chronic care meals program is powerful way to lower utilization and costs associated with emergency department visits and inpatient care.
Some plans are incorporating meal benefits into disease management or care/case management programs to allow clinicians to help members who are struggling with chronic conditions and food access challenges. When meals are added under disease or care management programs, health plans can typically use medical dollars to pay for the benefit versus rebate dollars that are usually used to pay for supplemental benefits.
2. Offering flex cards
Some health plans are using flex cards to improve access to food and fresh produce for members with chronic conditions. Members are given a flex card loaded with a monthly allowance that they can use to buy healthy foods or produce at local grocery stores or through selected online retailers. In 2025, 15% of MA plans offered a food or produce benefit that was filed as an SSBCI benefit separate from their meals benefit.
Most often flex card benefits are refillable value cards with money allotted to purchase groceries on a monthly or quarterly basis. What members can purchase with the flex cards varies by plan. Flex cards are easy to operationalize and attract prospective and renewing members.
3. Using affinity programs and incentives
Besides filing for SSBCI benefits, health plans are using creative ways to make home-delivered meals available to members:
- Affinity or value-added items and services programs can provide access to meals for self-payment to health plan members using a credit card or a flex card
- With incentive programs, health plans offer home-delivered meals or food to encourage members to complete an action or close a care gap
- Health plans can support members with acute needs — such as those with serious health concerns — so they can remain safe and healthy
- Under a value-based insurance design, plans help members manage chronic conditions
Mom's Meals® food as medicine solutions
Making nutritious foods more accessible and helping educate individuals about healthier choices is especially important for patients with chronic illnesses.
Mom’s Meals provides the most comprehensive food as medicine solutions nationwide. We provide nutrition solutions designed for all ages to bring comfort and inspire confidence in people seeking to live healthier, manage chronic conditions, recover from illness or continue to live independently. Our integrated solutions include medically tailored meals, produce and pantry boxes, oral nutrition supplements, shelf-stable, kosher and halal meals, and nutrition counseling and education.
We’re setting the standard in the food as medicine space with real-world results that show fewer hospitalizations, better A1C control, stronger medication adherence and meaningful reductions in the total cost of care. From caregivers and case managers to payers and state and federal agencies, we’re the provider trusted to deliver scalable, evidence-based interventions for Medicaid, Medicare, long-term care and self-pay populations.
Learn more about Mom's Meals food as medicine programs and solutions.
