Digital food-as-medicine firm NourishedRx is partnering with fintech firm ProHealth Hook up with make it simpler for sufferers to entry home-delivered meals and diet help in 2024, the businesses introduced Tuesday.

Stamford, Connecticut-based NourishedRx serves payers and suppliers and gives customized meals options, corresponding to grocery help, ready meals and meal kits. It additionally gives diet training and wraparound help like serving to sufferers join the Supplemental Vitamin Help Program. New York Metropolis-based ProHealth Join helps impartial, community-based retailers settle for well being plan supplemental advantages, significantly over-the-counter and grocery advantages. It primarily helps Medicare Benefit members however is beginning to help Medicaid members.

NourishedRx is becoming a member of ProHealth Join’s community, which means its diet choices are accessible for members of 46 payers with meals advantages by way of a ProHealth Join OTC or flex card. These members will have the ability to obtain NourishedRx’s meals supply providers and its wraparound help. The partnership impacts about 17 million members. 

“We’ve been actually interested by working with a delivery-based meals mannequin for fairly a while now. It’s been lacking from our instrument belt. … That is meals supply on steroids due to all of the scientific points wrapped round this,” mentioned Andrew Winakor, president of ProHealth Join, in an interview.

As well as, NourishedRx’s platform is being built-in with ProHealth Join’s API, which permits members to obtain customized meals bundles based mostly on their dietary wants and preferences.

The partnership comes at a time when there’s a dire want for diet help. About 17 million households within the U.S. are meals insecure. As well as, 74% of People are chubby or have weight problems and 93% of American adults have poor cardiometabolic well being.

“The necessity is simply manifestly apparent, however I feel the place our partnership is absolutely fantastic is that sometimes for well being plans and for particular person well being plan members, [getting] entry to wholesome meals and relatable diet info just isn’t so apparent,” mentioned Lauren Driscoll, CEO of NourishedRx. “Folks have all totally different levels of understanding of diet and publicity to wholesome meals. Many individuals actually have a nostalgic attachment to unhealthy meals as a result of it’s what they’ve eaten their total life. … By the 2 of us coming collectively, we’re mainly ensuring that the member has a really easy supply of cost.”

Driscoll added that she hopes to in the end help “lasting dietary change” for members.

The food-as-medicine motion is steadily rising, with a number of corporations within the house. This contains Season Well being, which gives customized recipes, pre-made meals, grocery help, diet training and one-on-one conferences with a dietitian. FarmboxRx additionally gives diet providers by way of delivered produce packing containers, cooking kits and pantry gadgets.

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