Food insecurity has often been linked to poor health outcomes. A new study suggests a targeted meal program for economically disadvantaged older adults may improve outcomes post-hospitalization.
In 2021, Kaiser Permanente Southern California began offering a four-week supplemental benefit of home-delivered meals to Medicare Advantage members after discharge from a hospitalization for heart failure and other medical conditions. The purpose of the study was to explore the association between socioeconomic disadvantages and patient outcomes and to assess whether the meal program helped with patient uptake during the recovery process.
Food and produce continues to be the biggest nonmedical supplemental benefit in MA. A total of 1,475 MA plans offer this benefit this year.
The health system used data from surveys and electronic medical records of more than 6,000 members who were each referred for the meal benefit program and linked to a hospitalization encounter between January and December 2021.
Sixty-two percent of patients referred for the benefit accepted the meals; 59% percent were people of color. The average age of the patients was 79.
Patients were invited to complete email or phone surveys asking whether they face food insecurity and their level of satisfaction with the home-delivered meals program. Of those who received the meal program, 69% reported that the meals were very or extremely helpful in their recoveries. Patients facing food insecurity were more likely to report the meals were helpful for their recovery than food secure patients.
“The home-delivered meals appeared to be particularly utilized by and helpful to patients with greater financial strain and/or food insecurity, suggesting that supplemental benefits could be more targeted toward addressing unmet needs of vulnerable adults,” the authors concluded.
The article, “Socioeconomic factors associated with uptake and satisfaction with a post-hospitalization meals benefit in Medicare Advantage,” was published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
