HARRINGTON, Del. - A new statewide effort hopes to prove that what's on your plate can be just as important as what's in your medicine cabinet.
Delaware leaders unveiled plans Tuesday to build a statewide "Food is Medicine" system, an initiative aimed at treating and preventing chronic disease by connecting patients with fresh, nutritious foods as part of their healthcare.
The announcement came during a meeting of the Delaware Food is Medicine Committee at the Delaware State Fair, where officials outlined how more than $1 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program funding will be used to launch pilot programs and build a long-term statewide network.
The initiative is designed to improve health outcomes while reducing healthcare costs and creating new opportunities for Delaware farmers.
"Food as medicine is a way to think differently about health care and health care costs," Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay said. "It's incredibly focused on prevention and preventing the progression of chronic disease, and that is a major driver for our costs."
A growing health challenge
During Tuesday's presentation, committee members highlighted the scope of diet-related diseases across Delaware.
According to committee data:
- 61% of deaths in Delaware are linked to chronic disease.
- 72% of adults are overweight or have obesity.
- 11.6% of adults have diabetes.
- 36.2% have hypertension.
- 12.5% of Delaware households experience food insecurity.
Officials said diabetes alone affects roughly one in 10 Delawareans and contributes significantly to healthcare spending.
How the program would work
The statewide initiative will begin by identifying patients who could benefit from nutrition support through their healthcare providers.
Patients would then be screened for food insecurity and referred to a Food is Medicine program, where they could receive medically tailored groceries, produce prescriptions or prepared meals, along with nutrition education and ongoing support.
State leaders hope those interventions will improve health outcomes, reduce hospital visits and lower long-term healthcare costs.
Three organizations have been selected to help build the statewide infrastructure:
- University of Delaware
- Beebe Healthcare
- Deloitte
Each will help develop technology, data systems and implementation strategies as the program expands.
Starting with diabetes patients
One of the first pilot programs will focus on patients living with uncontrolled diabetes.
The University of Delaware is leading the effort alongside Westside Family Healthcare, ChristianaCare, Nemours, the Food Bank of Delaware and ShopRite.
Participants will receive fresh produce and nutrition counseling over a six-month period while working with healthcare providers and community health workers.
"Our goal is to make sure that healthy food can be delivered to the homes, and patients know how to use that food to ultimately improve their health and well-being and change behaviors," said Maggie Norris Bent, chief operating officer of Westside Family Healthcare.
She said the program is designed to help patients make manageable lifestyle changes while connecting them with affordable, locally grown food long after the six-month intervention ends.
"Our goal is to build an intervention for six months, have an off-ramp that really makes sure these patients and their families know where to go to access fresh fruits and vegetables that they can afford," Norris Bent said.
Supporting Delaware agriculture
Leaders say the initiative is also intended to strengthen Delaware's agricultural economy by creating new markets for locally grown produce.
"Obviously agriculture is one of the underpinnings of our economy in Delaware," Evans Gay said. "If we can build out markets within our healthcare system for that fresh produce in particular, it is yet another way that we can create a market and infuse that into our local producers."
Looking ahead
Officials say pilot programs will begin in targeted communities, such as Kent and Sussex counties, before expanding statewide.
As the initiative grows, researchers will collect data to measure improvements in patient health and determine whether Food is Medicine programs reduce healthcare costs enough to encourage support from Medicaid, Medicare and private insurers.
State leaders say their long-term vision is to make nutrition-based care a routine part of healthcare across Delaware—helping patients prevent chronic disease while supporting the state's farming community.
