The Role Nutrition Plays in Preventive Care: Mom's Meals on NCQA's "Inside Health Care"

Could "a prescription for healthy eating" be the next big innovation in addressing social determinants of health (SDoH)?

On the latest episode of the NCQA podcast Inside Health Care, Catherine Macpherson, Vice President of Product Strategy and Development and Chief Nutrition Officer of Mom’s Meals, joins Matt Brock, NCQA Director of Communications, to discuss how home-delivered meals are helping health plans, AAAs and state governments, case managers, and caregivers help improve outcomes for the chronically ill and those struggling with food insecurity.

Listen to the podcast here:

Key takeaways and quotes from this discussion:
 

• "Dealing with social determinants of health doesn't mean 'referring them to a food bank and you're done.'" - Matt Brock
   
• "With the passage of the CHRONIC Care Act... it got rid of uniformity. It said for members with chronic conditions, 'health plans: you can define the benefit you want to wrap around that individual member.' If two members have diabetes, one may get access to a nutrition program like Mom's Meals and another may not just based on their level of risk." - Catherine Macpherson
   
• On the role of nutrition in preventive health: "It's a great way of saying, 'we're going to devote more costs upstream to prevent the downstream spend.'" - Catherine Macpherson
   
• On the introduction of special supplemental benefits for the chronically ill (SSBCI) for members of Medicare Advantage (MA) plans: "MA policy change has been groundbreaking to see this new innovation around caring for members with chronic diseases and addressing more than their medical needs." - Catherine Macpherson
   

• "Today 76% of physician visits result in a prescription drug. Most of those drugs are for treating common chronic conditions and people are self-managing those conditions at home every day... but lifestyle goes along with that." - Catherine Macpherson

• "We need to make it easier for people to eat better. That means fully-prepared meals delivered right to their doorstep, making it more affordable, taking the guesswork out of label-reading..." - Catherine Macpherson

• Biggest opportunity for innovation in addressing SDoH: "A prescription for healthy eating" that follows a patient through EMRs and the entire continuum of care. - Catherine Macpherson.

Want to learn more? Register for our upcoming AHIP Webinar "Nutrition & Chronic Care for Medicare Advantage (SSBCI)", March 12 at 1pm ET.