Food Farmacy

Project Description

Harris Health’s FoodRx program proactively embeds a population health approach as part of the standard of care for chronic disease management, strategically intervening with patients with expressed social needs and known health risks in order to improve their health outcomes. The program addresses health-related social needs—like food insecurity, poor nutritional knowledge, and lack of access to culinary education—that are prevalent in vulnerable populations and tied to poor health outcomes. Harris Health’s Food Farmacies are currently at two family practice clinics and the LBJ Hospital. With ARPA funds, this program will expand with three in-clinic Food Farmacies and two community redemption sites. The Food Rx program serves adult patients expressing food insecurity and provides a more intensive intervention for those with Type 2 diabetes. Patients who screen positive for food insecurity meet with a community health worker, select a variety of healthy foods with a dietitian, are connected to a Houston Food Bank navigator for benefits enrollment, and are linked to community food resources. Patients with severe diabetes are invited to participate in a nine-month "walk and learn" program that helps them learn to better manage their diabetes and enroll in the University of Texas School of Public Health’s co-located culinary medicine curriculum, which teaches patients the skills to make delicious, healthy, low-cost, and culturally relevant meals. Graduation from the Food Rx program includes curated linkages to community supports at accessible locations near and within the patient’s community.

PRIMARY PARTNERSHIPS

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Engaging patients and building community partnership has been essential to the success of FoodRx. Patients are screened during clinic visits using the Hunger Signs Vital questionnaire. If the patient screens positive for food insecurity, then they meet the criteria to participate in the program. Community partners provide additional resources, education opportunities, and community supports to meet the needs of enrolled patients, even after completing the program.

TARGET IMPACT

This program addresses the food insecurity and health disparities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing patients with access to 30 pounds of fresh, healthy foods every two weeks (including many fruits and vegetables that are often too expensive for families to purchase at the grocery store) as well as nutritional information about how consumption of healthy foods positively impacts health.

Primary metrics tracked include:

  • Number of patients screening positive for food insecurity
  • Number of referrals to FoodRx
  • Number of patients served at each clinic
  • Number of patients enrolled in diabetes education program
  • Pounds of fresh food distributed

WEBSITE LINK

USE OF EVIDENCE & PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, approximately 38 million people in the United States lived in food-insecure households. Notably from 2019 to 2020, the number of Americans living in food insecure households increased by three million (particularly among households with children), and racial/ethnic disparities in household food insecurity widened. As the food system continues to operate with challenges, and now with the addition of inflation, communities of color experiencing socioeconomic disparities will further be compromised.

Research suggests that food prescription programs are beneficial because of the availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and accommodation of healthy foods for participating households. Improved HbA1c control is crucial to preventing long-term diabetes complications, including cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, and organ damage. By connecting patients to a continuum of needed tools and support, Food Rx can help patients improve their health and quality of life.

This program has been recognized nationally and, in 2022, won the prestigious America’s Essential Hospital’s Gage Award in the Population Health category. Results from Harris Health’s first year of operations and the first cohorts to complete the culinary medicine component have shown an increase in patients’ nutrition knowledge, an average increase in fruit and vegetable consumption from 3.2 to 4.2 daily servings, a 38% increase in the number of patients reporting high confidence in the use of basic cooking techniques, a 15% increase in patients who “always” or “often” made homemade meals from scratch, and an average decrease in HbA1c of 0.72 percentage points for program graduates.

PHOTOS