{"id":276609,"date":"2025-10-04T07:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T07:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/276609\/"},"modified":"2025-10-04T07:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T07:41:14","slug":"guidance-for-covering-the-virtual-foodcare-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/276609\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidance for covering the virtual foodcare movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s well-known that consuming healthy, nutritious foods can help prevent, manage or treat some clinical conditions. Embracing this concept, ATA Action<\/a> (the American Telemedicine Association\u2019s advocacy arm) and others launched a Virtual Foodcare Coalition<\/a> this year to develop and promote policies that align telehealth with nutritional support, promoting overall health.<\/p>\n

Journalists can find numerous interesting story angles writing about virtual foodcare by interviewing dietitians and other providers of this service, clients receiving the service, and by examining legislative efforts in progress. See my suggestions at the end of this post.<\/p>\n

What is virtual foodcare?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Virtual foodcare aims to enhance health outcomes and reduce health care costs by making expert nutritional advice and support widely accessible through telehealth and other innovative technologies, said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy at ATA and executive director of ATA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is expand access to medically nutritious meals, and make sure that our food support programs such as SNAP and WIC<\/a> are offering ways for beneficiaries of those programs to [be able to have that food delivered to their homes] through online access points,\u201d Zebley said during a recent webinar<\/a> as part of Telehealth Awareness Week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want those meals to be reimbursed\u2026and we want to break down geographic barriers and end food deserts.\u201d Food deserts are geographic areas where people have limited access to healthy, affordable food.<\/p>\n

The coalition favors allowing online meetings with registered dietitians and other health care professionals \u2014 even across state lines \u2014 to ensure people get the food and care they need, he said. \u201cIt\u2019s all underlying this concept that\u2019s been around for many years now, which is that food is medicine. It can help in preventative care, and it can help treat chronic disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Founding members of the coalition include telehealth organizations such as Teladoc Health<\/a> and hims & hers<\/a>; foodcare providers such as Amazon, Albertson\u2019s and Mom\u2019s Meals; and the Nixon Law Group, which advises digital and other companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Virtual foodcare in action<\/strong><\/p>\n

Foodsmart<\/a>, one of the coalition\u2019s founding members, is one supplier of virtual foodcare. The company, a national provider organization, has nearly 1,000 registered dietitians across the country who use telehealth to meet with clients and offer medical nutrition therapy and food benefits management. The majority of their clients have Medicaid insurance. The organization also has digital tools available to help with patient monitoring and supporting adherence to nutrition care plans, said Melissa Isavoran, the company\u2019s vice president of network contracting and policy, during the webinar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wrap around the patient with tools to help them with meal planning based on their condition, and we help them with purchasing nutritious food in a cost-effective way,\u201d Isavoran said.<\/p>\n

Many of the company\u2019s clients have socioeconomic barriers preventing typical access to coming to in-person appointments and accessing healthy food, such as mobility and transportation issues, or living in rural locations where the local grocer might be a dollar store, she said. Some need to work and can\u2019t take off to attend appointments. \u201cWe really need to leverage telehealth to bridge the gap between community and health facilities and offer flexibility in the hours and availability of our registered dietitians to provide care,\u201d Isavoran said.<\/p>\n

Proper nutrition doesn\u2019t just impact diabetes and kidney disease, but also cancer, behavioral health, eating disorders, HIV\/AIDs and more, she noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Virtual foodcare policies that could support more Americans<\/strong><\/p>\n

Coalition members have identified a number of federal and state policy priorities. Here are a few:<\/p>\n

Federal policy recommendations<\/strong><\/p>\n