In the near future, we plan to introduce legislation that will amend the Human Services Code to add medical assistance coverage for medically tailored meals when required by a prescription from a licensed health care practitioner.
Patients with serious medical conditions are given a prescription diet to follow as they try to manage their condition and there is no pharmacy to fill that prescription. We know through data that patients who receive even a short intervention of medically tailored meals see huge health benefits such as learning how to better manage their own care and have better long-term health outcomes.
The legislation will cover an intervention for new or ongoing conditions when a prescription is written for care.  Recently the Tufts University Food Is Medicine Institute released results from a simulation model showing that in all states the number of health hospitalizations for those who utilized medically tailored meals dropped and Pennsylvania showed significant potential net cost savings per patient utilizing the meal intervention.
It is for these reasons that we seek a Food is Medicine solution to healthcare conditions with a prescription diet. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation.