When the concept of “Food is Medicine” is mentioned, most people think of medically tailored meals or produce prescriptions designed to address the nutritional needs of patients with acute health conditions. However, according to a recent report by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the scope of “Food is Medicine” should be broadened to include the nation’s largest nutrition assistance program—SNAP.

SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a familiar resource within the hunger relief community. Food banks, which play a significant role in enrolling individuals in SNAP, are well aware of its impact. Last fiscal year alone, SNAP provided $112.8 billion in assistance to an average of 42.1 million people each month, helping them purchase essential food items. Despite its proven benefits, including improvements in health and well-being, SNAP is not often recognized as a key component of the “Food is Medicine” approach.

“There’s a real need to highlight the role of the federal nutrition programs in this space. We don’t want Food as Medicine to be synonymous with, ‘Oh, that means people are getting a medically tailored meal,’” said Alexandra Ashbrook, Director of WIC and Root Causes at FRAC. The organization’s report strongly advocates for placing SNAP, along with WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), at the forefront of “Food is Medicine” interventions. “Ensuring eligible patients are participating in the federal nutrition programs—particularly SNAP and WIC—should be the primary intervention for health care systems to address food insecurity and improve patient nutrition and health,” the report asserts.

While the idea of centering SNAP within “Food is Medicine” initiatives might seem straightforward, the reality is more complex due to the diverse practices and technologies used by healthcare providers. “Each partnership develops differently,” said Sophia Lenarz-Coy, Executive Director of The Food Group, an organization currently collaborating with 25 healthcare locations to facilitate SNAP referrals. She noted the need for anti-hunger groups to remain adaptable when working with different healthcare systems, each with its own set of requirements regarding electronic medical records, data needs, and communication frequency. “We will work with any health system that’s interested and that we can adapt to,” Lenarz-Coy said, emphasizing the importance of flexibility in bridging the gap between healthcare and food assistance.

The Food Group, based in Minneapolis, has embraced this flexibility, employing three full-time staff members dedicated to managing SNAP referrals from various healthcare platforms as well as its HelpLine call center. More than half of the SNAP referrals The Food Group processes come from healthcare providers. Lenarz-Coy highlighted that food banks, with their administrative capabilities, are particularly well-suited to advancing the “Food is Medicine” initiative through SNAP referrals.

Boston-based Project Bread, a pioneer in SNAP outreach, has been refining its referral process with healthcare providers for the past 15 years. Initially, Project Bread offered hotline numbers and grocery store gift cards to patients identified as food insecure. The introduction of the Hunger Vital Signs screening tool helped healthcare providers better understand the scope of food insecurity, leading to more streamlined processes. Today, Project Bread leverages the Feed to Heal system, developed by a primary care physician at Cambridge Health Alliance, to facilitate SNAP referrals. “The automated, secure system makes it ‘very easy’ for us to receive the referrals,” said Khara Shearrion, Senior Director of SNAP Outreach Programs at Project Bread.

The Feed to Heal system not only notifies Project Bread’s SNAP outreach workers of patients needing food assistance but also allows healthcare providers to track whether the patients were successfully contacted, screened for SNAP eligibility, and enrolled in the program. Over the past year, Project Bread received more than 2,500 referrals through the Feed to Heal portal, underscoring the efficiency and effectiveness of automated systems in addressing food insecurity. “This is a way for us to lessen the burden on the patient’s end,” Shearrion said, pointing out that patients often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information they receive during healthcare visits.

Effective screening is a crucial first step in connecting patients to food assistance, and organizations like Lowcountry Food Bank are focusing on providing healthcare partners with tools to conduct consistent and dignified screenings. “We felt very strongly that it was critical to ensure that screening was done as an important first step, and it needed to be done clearly,” said Nick Osborne, President and CEO of Lowcountry Food Bank. To address challenges such as staff turnover in clinical settings, the South Carolina-based food bank created two training videos for healthcare staff, covering the basics of food insecurity screenings and how to conduct them with dignity. These resources will be made available to other nonprofit organizations for training purposes.

FRAC’s recommendation to prioritize SNAP within “Food is Medicine” initiatives aligns with the broader goals of healthcare organizations like Community Care Cooperative (C3) in Boston. Annie Pham, Director of Social Health at C3, noted that while her organization initially focused on solutions like medically tailored meals and produce prescriptions, they quickly realized the need for a broader approach. “We quickly learned that we needed to do even more at the prevention level, to not only connect our members to the nutrition security programs like SNAP and WIC, but to think even bigger picture and support our members with economic stability so that we can have a longer and lasting impact,” Pham said during a recent webinar.

The integration of SNAP into “Food is Medicine” programs offers a powerful tool for addressing food insecurity and improving public health. As healthcare systems increasingly recognize the importance of nutrition in patient care, SNAP and similar federal nutrition programs are poised to play a central role in ensuring that all patients have access to the food they need to lead healthy lives.