Health Care Leaders Back Foodsmart to Expand Foodscripts Solution

Series C funding for program linking food insecurity to food as medicine now at $39.6M

1/31/2024

Under the Foodscripts program, patients get a referral to Foodsmart dietitians and subsidized meals tailored to their specific medical conditions. (Image Credit: Foodsmart)

Foodsmart, a comprehensive provider of “food care” telenutrition and food benefits, is receiving backing from Advocate Health, Memorial Hermann Health System, Intermountain Health, the American College of Cardiology and Glen Tullman’s 62 Ventures to reach its goal, tied to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, to make the company’s Foodscripts solution ubiquitous by 2030. This brings its Series C funding to $39.6 million to support Foodscripts’ rapid expansion.

Foodscripts aims to simplify the process by which doctors refer patients to dietitians and prescribe quality food, just as they would medication, offering a cost-effective way to tackle chronic diseases. With more than 80% of American adults facing such chronic health conditions as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and obesity, such a solution is more crucial than ever.

Primary care providers of all sizes can use Foodscripts to help patients improve their food and nutrition security. Foodscripts mimic a pharmacy prescription: Patients get a referral to Foodsmart dietitians and subsidized meals tailored to their specific medical conditions.

“Given our national magnitude of nutrition insecurity and chronic disease, there is no path to prevent health care costs from bankrupting the United States without dramatic changes to the way Americans eat,” asserted Dr. Jason Langheier, CEO of San Francisco-based Foodsmart. “Every family should have a dietitian as part of their primary care team; empowering providers to give patients Foodscripts is one of the most important steps in facilitating a food care culture.”

Thanks to Foodsmart’s partnerships with health plans, patients usually receive the Foodscripts, access to telenutrition visits, medically tailored food subsidies and the Foodsmart platform, all at $0 out-of-pocket costs. Further, according to the company, its comprehensive approach has enabled 42% of program members experiencing food insecurity become food-secure within six months, with many better able to manage their health conditions.

Outside of dietitian visits, members use the Foodsmart App to stay on track with their healthy-living program, receiving daily support from the food marketplace. Within the marketplace, members can find thousands of healthy recipes, compare prices on groceries, and even have food delivered to their homes through Foodsmart’s integration with Instacart, Grubhub and Walmart. The company also works with numerous local minority and women-owned businesses, as well as food-centric nonprofits such Dion’s Chicago Dream and Eridor Food Service, to name a few. Foodsmart supports more than 2 million members across the United States through partnerships with some of the largest health plans and employers.