Companies join forces to empower
DispatchHealth's in-home healthcare professionals with tools that
help patients take action to address nutritional needs as part of
their overall health and wellness.
DENVER, Jan. 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- DispatchHealth and
Instacart (NASDAQ: CART), the leading grocery technology
company in North America, are
teaming up to confront one of healthcare's most pressing
challenges: ensuring patients have access to nutritious foods.
Using Instacart Health technology, DispatchHealth's in-home
providers can now prescribe food interventions as easily as they do
traditional medications. This collaboration marks a significant
step forward in the ongoing battle against the substantial impact
of food insecurity on healthcare costs. Recent data from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates food
insecurity adds a staggering annual expenditure of nearly
$52 billion.
"Nutrition access is fundamental to
maintaining and improving health," said Sarah Mastrorocco of Instacart Health.
"Our patients' well-being is closely tied to their environment,
and we witness firsthand how social determinants like nutritional
accessibility affect their overall health. We are literally in the
kitchen with our patients and not many provider groups can get to
that level of granularity," said DispatchHealth Chief Medical
Officer Dr. Phil Mitchell. "Our
collaboration with Instacart empowers us to bridge these gaps and
bring about tangible improvements in our patients' lives."
DispatchHealth is uniquely positioned to assess patients'
complete health needs. Recognized as the nation's most
comprehensive provider of in-home medical care, DispatchHealth
offers a variety of medical treatments to patients of all ages—from
managing everyday health hiccups and post-hospital recovery
support, to providing complex care that would typically require a
hospital stay.
Instacart Health leverages Instacart's platform, products,
and partnerships to increase access to nutritious foods, inspire
healthy choices, and scale food as medicine programs across the
country. The program empowers DispatchHealth's medical
professionals to allocate digital, category-specific food stipends
to patients using Fresh Funds, offer patients medically tailored
shopping lists through customized Virtual Storefronts, and send
food directly to patients' doorsteps in as fast as an hour through
Care Carts, which could help boost adherence rates.
This addresses a conspicuous gap in the healthcare sector—with
the potential to generate substantial returns. According to a
recent report from researchers at the Food is Medicine
Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at
Tufts University, the integration of
medically tailored meals into the healthcare system—specifically
within Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance for individuals
with diet-related conditions and limited capacity for daily
activities—could prevent approximately 1.6 million
hospitalizations. Moreover, according to the study, integrating
medically tailored meals could yield substantial financial
benefits, with an estimated net savings of $13.6 billion in healthcare costs in the first
year alone.
"Nutrition access is fundamental to maintaining and improving
health, and leveraging Instacart's technology and reach, we're able
to partner with at-home care providers like DispatchHealth to
ensure their patients can get the essentials they need delivered
from the local retailers they trust," said Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president and general
manager of Instacart Health. "Our tools also help patients engage
with DispatchHealth's medically tailored nutrition education and
inspiration, allowing them to take immediate action on their
provider's expert advice."
Instacart accepts diverse payment options on its
platform—including FSA and HSA cards, eligible Medicare Advantage
health payment cards like OTC Network, and SNAP benefits—further
increasing patient access to essentials and making online grocery
more accessible, affordable, and convenient.
By acknowledging the intricate interplay between social
determinants and well-being, this collaboration helps build a
healthier future for patients—one that's centered on compassionate,
holistic care that redefines successful patient outcomes.
About DispatchHealth: Bringing the power of the
hospital to the comfort of home™
DispatchHealth provides comprehensive and trusted medical care
in the comfort of home to people with serious health concerns—with
services that include same-day, urgent medical care; hospital
alternative care; and recovery care. Our emergency medicine and
hospitalist medicine trained care teams are equipped with all the
tools necessary—including imaging and IV infusions—to treat common
to complex injuries and illnesses in the home. DispatchHealth is
partnered with most major insurance companies and works closely
with primary care and specialty care providers, EMS, health
systems, senior living facilities, and employers to deliver in-home
care that reduces unnecessary emergency room visits, hospital stays
and readmissions. Since the company's inception in 2013, our expert
medical teams have treated more than one million people in their
homes across more than 30 states in the country—resulting in 58%
emergency room avoidance, 8.5% 30-day hospital readmission, 98%
patient satisfaction, and nearly $1.5
billion in medical cost savings. For more information, visit
DispatchHealth.com.
About Instacart:
Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in
North America, works with grocers
and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners
with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners
to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from
more than 80,000 stores across North
America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it
possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from
the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart
shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their
own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a
suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power
their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize
brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean
insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands – from
category leaders to emerging brands – partner with the company to
connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of
purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to
increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for
consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving
health outcomes. For more information, visit
www.instacart.com/company, and to start shopping, visit
www.instacart.com.
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SOURCE DispatchHealth