As the healthcare industry increasingly engages with food as medicine, payers can support dietary care management programs with a focus on nutrition.
Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) cause almost three out of every four deaths globally, including from cancer, stroke, and diabetes. A healthy diet stands out as protection against many of these conditions, spurring a significant interest in viewing food as medicine. Food can be one of the most powerful forms of disease prevention—with the right approach and adherence to dietary plans.
The food as medicine movement has received attention from stakeholders across the healthcare industry. Concepts like food prescriptions, food pharmacies, medically tailored meals and the Food Is Medicine Center for Excellence are becoming increasingly popular among both patients and providers.
Payers have an opportunity to lead the way. Care management efforts can help improve outcomes through integrated nutrition and diet-based programs that consider the whole-person member experience by integrating social determinants of health and social drivers.
Chronic care management integration: The possibilities for payers are only growing
Chronic conditions can benefit from deliberate food interventions from payers. Six in 10 people in the United States are navigating at least one chronic disease with four out of ten having two or more—these are major drivers of the $4.1 trillion in annual healthcare costs.
Treating food as medicine should be a pillar of proactive prevention for healthcare payers, helping to alleviate the cost of disease. This is especially true when these nutrition programs focus on the highest risk members with multiple chronic conditions. Many of the conditions that can benefit most from dietary interventions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity overlap and are highly preventable, potentially even reversible. Most payers target only 15-20% of their members for care management, so the potential for prevention could be extensive.
Care management programs engage members in their health journey, helping them learn along the way and keeping them active in decision-making. Members with conditions that benefit from dietary changes, or who are on medications that interact with certain foods, like warfarin, propranolol, and ace inhibitors, are ideal targets populations for these programs.
Driving the patient-consumer movement: How social media can engage members
Payers can use their branded social media accounts to encourage member populations to prioritize diet in their health choices. This can be supported through evidence-based health information and content and also available within member portals. Social media managers can track follower engagement to better understand broad attitudes around care management programs, educational materials, and materials on navigating conversations with physicians and family.
To treat food as medicine, payers should take advantage of the interest members already have around improving dietary choices and note how social media is an area of growing activity.
- 54% of Americans encountered food and nutrition content on social media in 2024, up from 42% in 2023. (These numbers range from 31% for Boomers to 79% for Gen Z.)
- 68% say they trust the information they find.
- 65% say online tools and mobile apps can help them improve their diet and physical activity.
- Older generations are more likely to see food and nutrition content on Facebook, while younger generations are more likely to see it on Instagram and TikTok.
However, the top three trusted sources were still healthcare professionals, registered dieticians, and wellness coaches. Only 38% of Americans would trust a doctor or nutritionist on social media, so it can be an additional medium to reach members and help influence positive habits.
