The meals as drugs motion has been choosing up steam, with the White Home gathering $8 billion in commitments for meals packages, payers launching medically-tailored meal pilots and startups gaining funding from traders. Rising analysis reveals that there are each well being and price advantages to meals and vitamin packages.
There are a number of meals as drugs fashions, resembling medically tailor-made meals (ready-to-eat meals), produce prescriptions (when sufferers get vouchers to buy wholesome meals) and medical and practical meals (condition-specific meals that require preparation).
Whereas there are advantages to meals as drugs, there are a number of challenges going through the motion, in response to a report printed Friday by PitchBook. The report, authored by Rising Know-how Analyst Aaron DeGagne, laid out 4 key challenges and critiques:
1. Resistance to weight-reduction plan restrictions: Some customers might push again in opposition to meals restrictions in meals as drugs packages, significantly government-led packages as a result of “they may very well be seen as the federal government telling individuals what to eat,” the report acknowledged. Nonetheless, a number of distributors informed PitchBook that their meals packages supply “flexibility” to individuals. Moreover, some individuals could also be prepared to interact in a extra restrictive weight-reduction plan if it means they’ll keep away from costly prescriptions and expensive surgical procedures sooner or later.
2. Meals high quality: One concern for meals as drugs packages is that some distributors supply “extremely processed meals.” Components like corn syrup and preservatives are identified to extend the chance of persistent illnesses, and “medical and practical meals which can be extremely processed might face a tougher path in receiving suggestions from care suppliers,” DeGagne acknowledged.
“This raises the bar for medical & practical meals distributors to point out their meals merchandise not solely accomplish medical goals but additionally restrict pointless additive elements (whereas remaining palatable to customers),” the report mentioned.
3. Attribution: A balanced weight-reduction plan is just one issue to being wholesome. Different components that have an effect on well being embrace genetic danger, environmental publicity and autoimmune circumstances.
“On condition that meals as drugs have to be a part of a balanced method, it might even be troublesome to attribute well being enhancements to a single prepared-meal vendor or a limited-dollar produce subsidy,” DeGagne famous. “Further medical knowledge may assist larger reimbursement of meals as drugs, although contemplating these attribution challenges, there is a component of belief at play that food-as-medicine distributors have to be cautious to not lose.”
4. Compliance: It is rather troublesome to trace compliance with meals as drugs packages, as there aren’t any wearable units that may achieve this. This makes it much more difficult to gather medical knowledge and perceive the influence of meals as drugs packages.
Whereas there are challenges to meals as drugs packages, DeGagne nonetheless anticipates a future for them, significantly given the curiosity from traders throughout a troublesome fundraising local weather. A number of meals packages have raised funds thus far in 2023, together with Mend ($15 million in Collection A), Modify Well being ($10 million in Collection B), Bitewell ($4 million in seed funding) and Free From Market ($2.1 million in seed funding). PitchBook foresees corporations with “built-in” packages — resembling a mix of meals supply, teaching and vitamin companies — being essentially the most profitable. One firm the report known as out is Faeth, which provides ready-to-go meals to assist most cancers care and an app that provides on-demand assist from nutritionists.
The report famous that a number of healthcare gamers have a task to play in advancing meals as drugs packages. Suppliers will probably begin to supply vitamin packages to sufferers after they change into extra accessible by way of well being plans.
Managed care organizations (MCOs) even have a possibility, as meals packages are sometimes focused towards underserved and low-income teams. MCOs have two main incentives for getting concerned in these sorts of packages: they might result in less expensive procedures down the street and the packages can “be used as a advertising effort” to realize extra members.
Payviders have a task as properly, since they’re within the “distinctive place of proudly owning their very own practices and are due to this fact extremely incentivized to cut back the price of persistent circumstances that may be prevented by way of correct vitamin,” DeGagne mentioned. Kaiser Permanente and Geisinger, each payviders, have launched pilot meals as drugs packages, and these efforts may very well be superior after Kaiser’s acquisition of Geisinger.
Whereas healthcare gamers could also be cautious of packages like medically-tailored meals as a result of they could require long-term funding, PitchBook mentioned they may very well be a great start line.
“We maintain the view that medically tailor-made meals generally is a good preliminary entry level for meals as drugs, and members may later transition to lower-cost packages targeted on vitamin and dietary steering,” the report mentioned. “For instance, in a consolidated platform, customers may have entry to medically tailor-made meals which can be totally coated for a time frame after which be supplied common appointments with a coach or dietitian on an ongoing foundation. This method serves a twin objective of maintaining customers lively on a food-as-medicine platform for an extended interval and controlling prices to allow larger scale.”
Photograph: vgajic, Getty Photos
