Meals in Medicare Advantage
On October 11th at 12:00 pm, the Vermont Food Access and Health Care Consortium will host a webinar on medically tailored meals in Medicare Advantage Plans.
Medicare Advantage plans are the area of health insurance where covering meals as a health benefit has become close to standard practice, with over 70%* of plans now offering a version of this benefit. It is most commonly provided as part of a transition home from inpatient hospital stays, or as a phase of treatment for a chronic diet-related condition.
2022 was the first time a major Vermont Medicare Advantage plan offered a meals benefit.
The national experience in these plans can offer insight into pathways by which food might become incorporated into health care services, including both meals and medically tailored food prescriptions. Vermont may also benefit from the systems created to allow these benefits to be offered throughout a plan’s service area, and offered to all patients with diagnoses for which meals are recognized as a clinically appropriate treatment. These systems are both tangible, such as options for getting meals to any address where delivery is required, and information, such as defining the role of Registered Dietitians in meals-based treatments, required credentials for a food program provider, and how to manage medical billing & coding. Medicare Advantage, while a small portion of Vermont’s insurance market, can have a significant impact on our future options for integrating food as part of medicine.
The session on October 11th will include:
Brief Overview of VT FAHC Findings on Medically Tailored Meals - Helen Labun, VT Food Access & Health Care Consortium
Introduction to Meals as a Benefit in Medicare Advantage - Katie Garfield, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
Overview of UVM Health Advantage Meals Benefit - Nicole Hungate, MVP Health Care
Q & A Session - Moderated by Vermont Program for Quality in Health Care (VPQHC)
Informational Panel 12:00 - 1:00 (Recorded) | Discussion 1:00 - 1:30 (Not Recorded)
Find previous events, resources, and reports on integrating meals as part of health care from the Vermont Food Access & Health Care Consortium on our Medically Tailored Meals page. This page includes a 2021 report and supporting documents analyzing Vermont capacity for implementing Medically Tailored Meals programs.
Key Findings - expanded, slide deck format
MTM Food Production - summarizes information on the meal production component
MTM Funding Options - summarizes key pathways to funding. Note that this piece appeared before the Medicare Advantage plan options being discussed on October 11th and will be updated following the sessions.
*According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) analysis of CY2022 Medicare Advantage Plans, 71% of Individual Plans and 79% of Special Needs Plans offer a Meal benefit. Plans can also offer Special Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill (SSBCI), where food is the most commonly offered special benefit. Among Special Needs Plans, over a third offer Food and Produce under SSBCI flexibilities and 17% offer extended meals access. Read more here.