Senate HELP Committee Explores Current Efforts in Nutrition in ‘Food is Medicine’ Hearing
Published May 28, 2024
By AACOM Government Relations
Advocacy Federal Policy OME Advocate
- On May 21, 2024, the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security hosted a hearing to discuss how access to healthy meals, medically tailored meals and improved education were key to improving American health.
- Chair Edward Markey (D-MA), Ranking Member Roger Marshall (R-KS) and other Senators were acknowledged for their efforts to improve nutritional education and dietary services, which includes funding community health centers and expanding federal agencies’ strategic plans as methods to improve primary care.
- Witnesses stated the need for more physicians to become aware of the role food can play in health and how patients can access quality food, such as through produce prescription programs, with Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO) noting the potential in Food is Medicine as an alternative to strict reliance on pharmaceutical measures.
- Knowledgeable physicians supplement the role of community members in providing coaching in nutritional health, with one witness stating that “coaching is only as good as … people will listen to it.”
- See AACOM’s first-of-its-kind statement on the guiding principles for Food As Medicine that was recently adopted at Educating Leaders 2024.