Good Measures’ Good Food Rx Celebrates Successful 1st Year

Participants in food-as-medicine initiative improved blood pressure, weight and member engagement

2/5/2024

Good Measures and Instacart's year-one program results discovered that the integration of medically tailored groceries into a comprehensive personalized nutrition program boosted overall member engagement.

Digital nutrition solution provider Good Measures has revealed positive first-year outcomes from its Good Food Prescription program, a tech-enabled food-as-medicine solution that unites expert clinical coaching, customized recipes and meal planning, and medically tailored grocery delivery through Instacart to improve diet-related conditions at scale.

Since the program rolled out in December 2022 with six health plans, spanning Medicare, Medicaid and marketplace plans, in various states, Good Measures has seen considerably better outcomes across the board, with 68% of participants who received medically tailored groceries having improved or maintained blood pressure. Members with stage 2 hypertension, who are at the highest risk for complications related to the condition, experienced the greatest improvements (10.6% average systolic reduction and 13.4% average diastolic reduction). Seventy-two percent of members also lost or maintained weight, with an average 4.5% loss of body weight.

“It’s gratifying to see our comprehensive, fully integrated, personalized nutrition solutions having a measurable impact on the crisis of diet-related disease in this country,” noted Donna K. Lencki, CEO of Boston-based Good Measures. “When the food that gets delivered to your doorstep is personalized to your health condition and cultural preferences, and supported through one-on-one clinical coaching, it clearly leads to sustained change and improved health outcomes.”

The Good Food Prescription program employs Good Measures’ patented technology to curate condition-specific and culturally relevant meal plans tailored to each participant’s health profile and food preferences. It then generates shopping lists that are fulfilled and delivered by Instacart using Instacart Health Care Carts technology, enabling Good Measures to send groceries directly to people at home from trusted local grocers, and making it easy and convenient for program members to eat more healthfully. Through Good Measures’ integrated model, participants have check-ins with registered dietitian coaches, who screen for food insecurity and other social drivers of health, and can connect members to resources, helping to close crucial gaps and advance health equity.

“We’ve always believed that access to nutritious food and education can promote positive health outcomes, and we’re proud of the impact we’ve made in the first year of our partnership with Good Measures,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, VP and general manager of health at San Francisco-based Instacart. “By partnering with Instacart Health to make Good Measures’ nutrition advice immediately actionable, the Good Food Prescription has helped make it easier for participants to make healthy choices. We look forward to working with Good Measures to expand this successful model to reach even more people in more communities.”

Year-one program results also discovered that the integration of medically tailored groceries into a comprehensive personalized nutrition program boosted overall member engagement, a continuing challenge for health plans aiming to get measurable value and ROI from food-based member programs. Compared with members who didn’t receive food deliveries, those who did had 22% higher engagement with the Good Measures digital platform and a 32% higher rate of engagement in coaching sessions.

“Since we launched the Good Food Prescription program, we’ve seen overwhelming interest from health plans looking to expand beyond government programs and address their overall membership as employers look for solutions that address diet-related disease,” added Lencki. “Our seamless whole-population model is comprehensive, flexible, targeted, and tailored to individual needs and preferences. We look forward to partnering with more health plans, providers and channel partners as we expand this exciting new program with Instacart.”

Instacart partners with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from 80,000-plus stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.