MANNA is a non-profit organization that uses nutrition to improve health for people with serious illnesses who need nourishment to heal. By providing medically tailored meals and nutrition education, MANNA empowers people to improve their health and quality of life. With help from 7,000+ volunteers, MANNA delivers over 1.3 million nourishing meals per year to individuals across Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.
FOUNDED MORE THAN 32 YEARS AGO, Health Partners Plans is a non-profit managed care organization in Greater Southeastern Pennsylvania that serves more than 250,000 members through its Medicaid, Medicare and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans. It is also one of the few MCOs in the nation that is hospital-owned.
In 2015, HPP and MANNA, a local community based organization, decided to explore a simple question: could they measure the positive health outcomes of members given therapeutic food as medicine to treat chronic health diseases? To find the answer, the HPP-MANNA Food is Medicine program began offering medically tailored meals and nutrition counseling to a small group of diabetic members.
After the program improved health outcomes and lowered costs per member per month, HPP expanded the program. As of October 2019, more than 730,600 meals have been delivered to more than 3,000 HPP members suffering from various illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, malnutrition and kidney failure.
Findings for the population that ended services by January 1, 2019 show:
• Lowered blood-glucose levels for 23 percent of diabetic member
• Decreased utilization for inpatient admissions and emergency room visits
• Increased the use of preventive services such as visits with primary care practitioners
• Reduced overall medical costs per member per month by 18 percent
After the program improved health outcomes and lowered costs per member per month, HPP expanded the program. As of October 2019, more than 730,600 meals have been delivered to more than 3,000 HPP members suffering from various illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, malnutrition and kidney failure.
HPP case managers assess their members for chronic conditions and social determinants of health needs, as well as their readiness to change their eating habits. Qualifying members are offered medically tailored meals prepared by MANNA, a Philadelphia based non-profit specialized in preparing meals that meet the nutritional needs of individuals with serious or chronic illnesses.
Today, the HPP-MANNA Food Is Medicine program has expanded to include members with other chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, malnutrition and kidney failure. Health Partners Plans views the Food Is Medicine (FIM) program as another tool to assist members with certain chronic conditions to self-manage their conditions. The FIM program also educates the member about how diet affects condition – something that is tangible instead of just words on paper or verbal communication from the healthcare providers.
By partnering with HPP, MANNA aims to demonstrate the value of medically tailored meals by providing members with therapeutic nutrition services that improve health and quality of life. The success of the MANNA-HPP partnership can spark changes in the healthcare landscape that ensure access to medically tailored meals for every individual with a health condition that could
MANNA was founded in 1990 by seven members of Philadelphia’s First Presbyterian Church in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Initially, they provided care and comfort to those who were dying, but as HIV/AIDS treatments became available, they evolved to provide medically tailored meals for people with nutrition-impacted diseases and nutrition counseling to help people improve their health outcomes and quality of life.
MANNA VOLUNTEERS
They donate their time for various reasons including employee involvement, community service requirements for school, connection to MANNA’s mission, and simply for the feeling of giving back. Sometimes volunteers are even former clients.
During their three hour shifts volunteers chop vegetables, pack meals, fill meal trays, make sandwiches, bake and perform other tasks with the guidance of MANNA’s professional chefs. Each morning, the meals are sorted and packed into MANNA’s fleet of trucks. Staff drivers make weekly deliveries to each of our clients. They receive 21 meals in each delivery, ensuring that 100% of their nutritional needs are met for the week.
Today, MANNA’s staff of licensed registered dietitians ensures that each medically tailored meal meets the unique and often complex nutritional needs of its clients. The nutrient levels of these meals vary depending on each individual’s disease state and are based on research compiled by organizations such as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, American Diabetes Association, National Kidney Foundation, and the American Cancer Society.
MANNA utilizes five (5)
climate-controlled trucks and paid delivery drivers to ensure each of its 1,200 clients receive their weekly meal deliveries on their scheduled day.
MANNA drivers are sure to greet each client with a smile as they make their weekly deliveries. Depending on the needs of the client, drivers often assist with unpacking the meals and ensuring they are stored properly.
One area that is part of HPP and MANNA’s pilot project is Fairhill, a heavily Hispanic Philadelphia community, frequently ranked as the poorest neighborhood in the poorest major us city. More people are obese, more people smoke, and fewer are insured. 67.1% of children are in poverty and the drug trade is rampant.
MANNA serves 1.3 million medically tailored meals each year in a delivery zone encompasses most of the nine (9) county Philadelphia and southern New Jersey region. While most clients reside in the metropolitan area, MANNA delivery drivers cover over 1,000 square miles in the surrounding region. For those residing outside the delivery zone, MANNA recently expanded a shipping program via an insurance partner that allows the organization to reach members residing across the state of Pennsylvania.
Delivering meals to their clients’ doorsteps ensures they have access to 100% of their nutritional needs, and eliminates barriers such as cost, mobility, and nutrition literacy that prevent individuals from obtaining the food they need to manage serious illnesses. All meals arrive frozen and may simply be reheated in an oven or microwave, which enables clients to focus on healing rather than preparing a medically appropriate meal.
Sharing the successful outcomes of the HPP-MANNA Food Is Medicine partnership may convince healthcare insurers that investing in medically tailored meals for chronically ill people may save money in the long run, as people may become healthier, and their utilization of services (ER visits and inpatient admissions) decreases while their use of preventive services, such as PCP visits, continues.
This website was built by The Lexicon™, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Petaluma, CA.
Check out our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, and Terms of Use.
To the extent possible under law, Green Brown Blue, a Food Systems Solutions Activator is releasing all its content under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO) licence.