Instacart Improves Access to Nutritious Food for Moms-To-Be
Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system, and grocery technology company Instacart have formed a partnership through the Instacart Health initiative that uses Instacart’s platform and products to expand access to nutritious foods, encourage sustainable healthy choices, and scale food-as-medicine programs to reach various Northwell communities.
“Raising health is more than the care Northwell provides in our hospitals and doctors’ offices. It’s also about how we raise up the people in our communities and how we raise our expectations of what health can be, which is why Northwell contributes more than $2 billion in community benefit annually,” noted Debbie Salas-Lopez, MD, MPH SVP of Northwell’s Office of Community Wellness and Population Health. “The collaboration with Instacart is part of our comprehensive community health effort and will provide tools and resources to access nutritious foods for our staff, patients and communities.”
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Under the partnership, Northwell will employ Instacart Health tools to support programs that address such social determinants of health as access to healthy food and transportation.
“We believe that Food is Health, and it’s important to us to meet the needs of the communities we serve, which is why we pursued an Instacart partnership,” said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell.
The first program to roll out integrates Instacart Health tools into Northwell’s Center for Maternal Health Maternal Outcomes and Morbidity Collaborative (MOMS) so that food-insecure expectant mothers have better access to fresh and nutritious food. Northwell is especially focused on improving maternal health in communities of color who have experienced long-standing disparities in maternal care. With Instacart Health Fresh Funds, category-specific online grocery stipends, and Northwell’s Healthy Choices Storefront on Instacart, Northwell can give these moms-to-be nutrition guidance and support during their pregnancies.
“Instacart offers families across the country the convenience of same-day delivery from their favorite stores, reaching over 98% of U.S. households,” observed Sarah Mastrorocco, VP and general manager of Instacart Health. “By partnering with Northwell Health, we’re leveraging our scale and Health tools to create impactful nutrition access and education programs that help solve real community challenges. Studies show that a healthy diet during pregnancy can greatly improve the health of both moms and babies and reduce the risk of several common complications. By offering our Fresh Funds stipends to give mothers more convenient access to nutritious food, and consumer tools that make Northwell Health’s expert guidance actionable, we’re supporting programs that help make our communities healthier.”
Encompassing 21 hospitals, about 900 outpatient facilities and more than 12,000 affiliated physicians, Northwell cares for more than 2 million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, with 87,000 employees.
San Francisco-based Instacart teams with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.
