Instacart has announced the availability of a suite of digital tools for providers to enhance collaborative care, promote healthy choices and give nutritious foods to patients.
“We know that access to nutritious foods can deliver healthier outcomes, but a number of challenges have prevented healthcare providers from effectively adopting food as medicine programs at scale. With Instacart Health, we have the unique opportunity to partner with providers to expand proven nutrition programs and more deeply integrate food as medicine into standard patient care,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, VP and general manager.
“We’re proud to offer these products to help providers expand access to nutritious food and make medically-tailored groceries and meal advice more actionable. Together, we can help patients and their families take an active role in their health through food.”
Instacart Health tools make it easy for providers to prescribe food as they would medications, establishing new programs including virtual food pharmacies and expanding access to nutrition. Instacart Health’s provider products include:
- Fresh Funds – Providers can give patients Fresh Funds – customizable Instacart stipends – to enable patients to purchase nutritious foods on Instacart from their provider’s curated selection of recommended items or specific ingredients for medically-tailored meal plans. With Fresh Funds, patients can select the foods that best fit their personal tastes and dietary needs and order from grocery retailers using their stipend. Patients can also use SNAP benefits or traditional funds to complete their weekly shopping trip online in one order. As part of this program, patients can consent to share their purchase history back to their provider.
- Care Carts – Using Care Carts, providers can send custom grocery deliveries based on a physician recommended diet to patients in their care. This technology can also give providers tools to measure program effectiveness and identify where foods can make the greatest impacts in health.
Boston Children’s Hospital is among the first health systems to leverage Instacart Health provider products for its patients, establishing new food as medicine programs to help them get the nourishment they need to manage and maintain their health.
“At Boston Children’s Hospital, we’re committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in pediatric health and addressing our patient health needs holistically,” said John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“Together with Instacart Health, we are excited to explore this technology further to help our providers deliver programs serving patients and families with specific dietary needs. Food and nutrition programs are essential to disease treatment and prevention.”
Through this initiative, Instacart is using its technology, robust grocery platform and industry partnerships to enable the integration of food as medicine programs in the U.S. healthcare system. The company will continue to invest in new innovative solutions for providers across the country to drive and measure healthier outcomes.
