NuVal Moves Into Regional Health Care Facilities

The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System will be on the menu at the Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy), the eighth-largest Catholic health care system in the United States, with 28 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient facilities across Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. NuVal ranks the nutritional value of foods on a scale from one to 100, with a high score indicating superior nutrition.

The system will be applied to Mercy’s foodservice options, including its cafeterias, in almost 50 of its facilities.

“At Mercy, we’re about promoting health and helping people live healthier lives, not just our patients, but for everyone whose lives we touch,” said Janet Pursley, VP of care management at Chesterfield, Mo.-based Mercy. “We see NuVal as an innovative, proven way to guide our co-workers to better food choices which are the building blocks to better health.”

NuVal scores, recognizable by their trademark double-hexagon design, are now posted at areas where Mercy employees buy food. The organization is promoting the system via signs, brochures and a game that demonstrates how the scores work. All participants can submit their game cards in return for a nutritious snack.

“NuVal scores and the science behind them are a big part of preventive health care,” said Mike Nugent, general manager at Braintree, Mass.-based NuVal LLC. The system, a joint venture formed in 2008 by Skokie, Ill.-based Topco Associates LLC and Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., has already rolled out to more than 900 Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, Meijer, Brookshire’s, Big Y, Skogen’s Festival Foods, Food City, Coborn’s, and United Supermarket stores across the United States. It’s also available to members of ActiveHealth Management, a New York-based provider of evidence-based health information technology solutions and health management services, through the wwwMyActiveHealth.com website.

For more information, retailers can contact [email protected] or call 781-228-5800.