The Health Law Lab, in partnership with California’s Medically Supportive Food & Nutrition Steering Committee, released the final case studies in a series of five focused on California’s efforts to expand access to and coverage of nutrition interventions and other services for people enrolled in Medicaid. The series supports efforts to incorporate nutrition interventions and other health needs into Medicaid and reports operational and logistical hurdles.
The case study series, titled Building Partnerships to Advance Nutrition in California’s CalAIM Waiver, features five partnerships between community-based organizations (CBOs) and California’s managed care plans, including:
The leading risk factor for death in the US is poor diet, numerous negative health outcomes are associated with food and nutrition insecurity, and people from systemically underserved communities are disproportionately affected. Yet, the healthcare system is generally not able to respond effectively.
Medically Supportive Food and Nutrition (MSF&N) interventions, such as medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, produce prescriptions, and food pharmacies, offer promising solutions to these challenges. Research shows that these interventions save money, improve health outcomes, reduce food insecurity, and address health disparities. Despite these benefits, the availability of sustainable funding poses a significant obstacle to widespread adoption of these services.
In response, in January 2022, California launched its five-year Medicaid waiver, called California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM), to create access for MSF&N and health-related social services. Called Community Supports, the program provides nutrition services to Medicaid enrollees with diet-related conditions and ther risk factors through partnerships between California’s managed care plans and community-based organizations (CBOs).
The case study series highlights benefits and challenges associated with the partnerships, and offers best practices for expanding and replicating partnerships in California and other US states.
The case study series is made possible through the support of the Kaiser Permanente National Community Benefit Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation.