• Lynn Fredericks, Olivia Thomas, Anthony Imamura, Julia MacLaren, Auden McClure, Joy Khalil, and Jennifer Massa.
• FamilyCook Productions, 330 East 43rd Street, Ste. 704, New York, NY, 10017, USA. lynn@familycookproductions.com.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Nov 11.

AbstractDiet-related chronic diseases account for seven out of the ten leading causes of death in the USA. Food is Medicine (FIM) interventions can be effective adjuncts to standard medical care to address this cost burden. While the Food is Medicine Pyramid recommends some culinary skill development when integrating FIM into healthcare, the emphasis is on medically tailored meals and food provision. Hence, there is a practice gap to ensure patients develop the necessary skills to apply nutrition recommendations into improved food behaviors to achieve positive long-term health outcomes. This paper presents a theoretical framework for optimizing existing clinical services to provide FIM interventions, tracking associated improvements in patient outcomes, and identifying healthcare cost saving/revenue generation that can lead to a net value on investment. It describes how these interventions can and have been used in a clinical setting as adjuncts to clinical care. While there is published evidence for each modality individually, the literature lacks evidence of the value of an integrated approach. The framework therefore provides a roadmap to both identify best practices and evaluate outcomes that will inform viable financial models.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Society of General Internal Medicine.

20 keywords...

hide…