Food as Medicine: Nourishing Whole Health and Better Outcomes

Contributing experts: Kofi Essel, MD, and Melissa Clarke, MD

A person’s health is deeply influenced by the choices they make in daily life, from regular exercise and nutritious meals to getting enough sleep. These everyday choices can have a powerful impact on overall health and well-being. But when a person doesn’t know if there will be enough food in the kitchen to last the week, the focus shifts from thriving to simply getting by.

Access to nutritious food shapes energy, resilience, and the ability to manage chronic conditions. Elevance Health partners with care providers to advance nutrition, address food insecurity, and promote health equity, improving care quality from the inside out.

The Power of Nutrition in Whole Health

Holistic care starts with recognizing that health doesn’t begin or end in the exam room. Research shows that as much as 80% of health outcomes are influenced by factors outside of clinical care — and one of the most powerful factors is access to nutritious food.

Food insecurity affects 1 in 7 U.S. households, including 1 in 6 families with children, contributing to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. The nutritional value of food and the consistency of access matters just as much as the quantity.

Improving access to nutritious food is essential to advancing whole health, and we all have a role in integrating nutrition into care delivery and driving better outcomes.

Each year, more than 1 million Americans die from diet-related diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.⁴ These deaths reflect not just individual choices, but also broader challenges in access to affordable, nutritious foods and opportunities for healthy living.

How Food is Fueling Better Health Outcomes

Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP, Food as Medicine Director, Elevance Health:

My name is Kofi Essel. I am a community pediatrician by training, and I am the inaugural Food as Medicine Director. This role in particular is one of the first of its kind in any payer space, and it allowed this company to invest in this space and to recognize the power of food as medicine. And I believed in that investment.

Food as medicine are strategies or interventions that work alongside healthcare, that give access to nutritious and good foods that are focused primarily on prevention, management, and treatment of disease.

I believed in the opportunity that existed to scale up efforts across the country to improve the health outcomes of members and families using food as an authentic tool. I've spent a lot of time with the associates, and they're very excited about this topic of food as medicine. When we think about the members that our associates are serving, they get to use food as medicine as a tool to improve their health by being able to talk about it confidently, knowing the science, knowing the evidence, and knowing how it also has impacted their own health.

Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP, Food as Medicine Director, Elevance Health:

Can we clap it up for the Food as Medicine family night out?

Kofi Essel, MD, MPH, FAAP, Food as Medicine Director, Elevance Health:

We recognize the role of whole health for members across the country, and that's critical to start with. And we have to tap into programs that are outside of the clinical spaces with our community-based organizations and work alongside them. And the way we measure these outcomes is simply by looking at the data and hearing the member voice. We want to see hospitalizations and readmissions decreasing as well. As a result of these diet related chronic conditions, we want to see primary care visits improve and medication management also stabilize as well. These are ways that we can look at and tell that these interventions are effective. In my role, what I'm trying to do is create better alignment across all lines of business and really build on the successes that we've already established. That is critically important, and that's what I'm excited to do.

Food as Medicine in Action

Food as medicine anchors our whole-health strategy. We connect nutritious food and nutrition education to prevention and condition management to help support better health outcomes and reduce avoidable health complications.

Customized solutions support individual and community health:

Medically tailored meals, groceries, and produce prescriptions support recovery, manage chronic conditions, and can prevent worsening outcomes.

Navigation to federal nutrition programs ensures people are connected to other valuable and evidence-based resources.

Partnerships with community organizations — from local food banks to faith-based pantries to meal delivery programs — also support long-term food security.

Culturally responsive nutrition education empowers people to set and achieve their own health improvement goals.

Tailored nutrition interventions can help improve specific health metrics like HbA1C and cholesterol levels.

Operationalizing Whole Health

Through our Community Connected Care program, local care navigators proactively screen members for social needs and connect them to community resources that can support improved health.

Food and nutrition insecurity consistently account for 13.7% of identified social health needs, making it a top priority in our efforts to improve whole health.

Through 50+ local navigator networks, we connect thousands of people each year to meal and grocery support — bridging access gaps and building healthier communities.

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Elevance Health is a key partner in advancing care across West Virginia. Through their support of our FARMacy program, nearly 300 patients have gained access to fresh produce and education to better manage chronic disease. Vandalia Health Network values this collaboration and looks forward to its continued growth.

Michelle Coon, President

Vandalia Health Network and Physician Hospital Organization, West Virginia

A Partnership That Helps Care Providers Do What They Do Best: Deliver Excellent Care

The partnership between care providers and Elevance Health creates a more coordinated, evidence-based approach to care delivery. By investing upstream — expanding access to nutritious food and other key social drivers of health — we can help remove barriers that stand between patients and positive health outcomes.

Together, we’re using food as medicine to elevate care quality, strengthen adherence to care plans, and drive measurable results.

Expanding What’s Possible in Whole Health — Together

Elevance Health is committed to advancing food as medicine initiatives that make a measurable impact on people’s health outcomes. By deepening partnerships with care providers and expanding access to nutrition-based support, we’re helping to prevent and manage chronic conditions more effectively.

In partnership, we’re reducing avoidable hospitalizations and promoting overall well-being. It’s whole-health care that goes beyond managing disease to enabling lasting health and vitality for every person and community we serve.

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