About 44.2 million people lived in food-insecure households in 2022, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). And that figure seems to be part of an upward trend in food insecurity across the US.
Food access and security significantly impact health and well-being, with many illnesses directly related to a person’s diet. The social determinant of health also carries a hefty price tag, with obesity alone costing the health system $173 billion annually.
It is no surprise that more health plans and employers offer food-as-medicine programs to address prevalent social determinants of health and reverse the rising rate of diet-related chronic diseases.
“All members can benefit from a food-is-medicine program,” says Kristin Gasteazoro, senior vice president of SmartShopper sales and client performance at Zelis. “These programs direct members to go to the outer sides of a supermarket, not down the aisles where more saturated fats, carbs, and fats exist. But goods in those aisles —think the chips, the cookies —tend to cost less than the produce and proteins on the outer sides. For this reason, food-is-medicine programs when designed appropriately, can be strategic in that way.”
Being strategic is vital to the success of these incentive programs, and most traditional food-is-medicine models lack the necessary program design to improve outcomes and reduce costs while generating ROI for the health plan.
“Traditional ways of managing food-is-medicine programs are very clunky and antiquated,” explains Ken Erickson, CEO of iQPay, a company specializing in digital card payments to boost engagement. “The traditional way of designing these programs is to use plastic gift cards. However, it’s impossible for health plans to see how members are using the funds and what types of food they are purchasing.”
The problem with the physical gift card strategy is that the programs tend to be one-size-fits-all versus tailored to the populations plans want to target for improved outcomes. Designing a program across an entire member base is extremely challenging and can lead to excessive costs on items plans don’t necessarily want members to be buying.
Food-is-medicine programs need to enter the digital age to achieve scale and ROI.
Digital cards are convenient for members who are likely very comfortable in the increasingly connected world of digital wallets. Members can use digital cards via text or email, and certainly on their phones, to pay for groceries wherever they shop. Digital cards can also be tied to a QR code that, when scanned by a cashier, takes off the amount for qualifying foods.
Health plans also have more flexibility with digital cards and programs, enabling them to be more strategic about who they are targeting and what they can buy. Rather than a physical gift card that can be spent at a specific store or only covers a certain amount of money, digital cards can be tied to approved food lists clearly communicated to a member through an application with personalized messaging. For example, a person with diabetes can use a digital card to view qualifying low-sugar food items, then take a QR code or barcode to buy those items along with their weekly groceries.
Health plans can scale these types of incentive programs to entire member populations with specific chronic conditions or, more broadly, to all members for a healthy holiday meal, for instance.
“A flexible platform can serve all the needs of members and allows plans to launch multiple programs,” Erickson says. “It helps to define what food-is-medicine specifically means to a health plan or employer and the goals they want to achieve through the program. As we move more into this field as an industry, we will find that food-is-medicine means multiple things, not just a prescription for the diabetic population.”
Digital food-is-medicine models can also support health-plan efforts to collect critical data from members, including social determinants of health, to boost engagement. Member engagement is another pillar of success with food-is-medicine programs.
“Gathering member emails and contact information is one of the biggest struggles that health plans encounter with engagement and outreach of member populations,” Gasteazoro states. “When we think about food-is-medicine programs, it’s not just how we deliver the card to them; it’s how we capture the information, feed it back to the plan, and tailor programs.”
Health plans can use emails and other contact information from members to “generate multiple touchpoints to continue to drive relevant and ongoing behaviors that are critical to program design and strategy,” she explains.
Engagement is critical to the success of sustainable, strategic food-is-medicine programs. With any program health plans stand up, engagement is a major obstacle to scalability, ROI, and improved outcomes. Digital-based programs can provide the outreach necessary to engage the right members to motivate healthy behaviors while making it convenient to use over again.
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Part of Zelis Healthcare’s comprehensive suite, SmartShopper Propel is an activation and engagement solution that makes highlighting open opportunities for care easy and convenient. By engaging consumers in meaningful ways through food-is-medicine strategies, Propel helps members improve their health and ensures payers meet critical goals. Learn more here.
