OPERATIONS
Morrison Healthcare teams up with Cleveland Clinic for medically tailored meals study
The Morrison Healthcare team at Cleveland Clinic partnered with doctors at the hospital to conduct the study, which found that while offering medically tailored meals is a labor-intensive process, there are clear benefits to hospitals and patients.
M edically Tailored Meals (MTM) have grown in popularity to help patients with chronic illnesses better manage their health. Providing the meals, however, can be a labor-intensive process. The Morrison Healthcare team at Cleveland Clinic partnered with researchers at the hospi- tal to conduct a study that looked at the impact and feasibility of offering a MTM program. “If it’s not feasible for us, it’s not feasi- ble for others, and we really wanted to be able to show what’s that return on investment,” says Regional Vice Presi - dent for Morrison Healthcare Wendy Phillips. The study included 60 patients who met the following criteria: they uti- lized hospital services or had visited the emergency room at least twice in the past six months, they were over 50 years old, they had either diabetes, high blood pressure or congestive heart fail- ure, they were on Medicare, Medicaid or were uninsured, they lived in a food desert, and they met the criteria for food insecurity. The participants were then delivered MTM to their homes for three months. The meals were created by Morrison chefs and dietitians and featured dishes that are considered heart-healthy with high fiber, low sodium and more. In addition to being healthy, the meals had to be able to be frozen and then re- heated well. After brainstorming sessions and BY BENITA GINGERELLA
saving for the healthcare systems, a cost saving for the patients, and just overall good outcomes.” Patients also filled out a survey at the end of the three months where many shared how the meals helped them per- sonally. “We had people that said that now, because they didn’t have to pay for the food, they could afford their medica- tions for the month,” says Phillips. Data from this study will be used to advocate with Congress for providing MTMs to patients, Phillips says. While providing the meals is a labor-intensive process, she adds, the benefits are there. “If we’re seeing it on this scale with Cleveland Clinic, imagine the benefits that Medicare could see on their scale,” she says. “I think it’s more a call to Medi- care, Medicaid, to kind of really support the medically tailored meals, because we know the tremendous effects that it has on the health system value.”
many taste tests, the team landed on a variety of healthy options, including stuffed cabbage, veggie bowls and pasta bowls. “[Patients had an] incredible array of very wonderful, healthy food,” says In - ternal Medicine Physician and study au- thor Dr. Monica Yepes-Rios. “They could choose from those meals and select the ones they wanted to have delivered to their home, so they were consistently delivered for those three months.” After the three months, Dr. Yepes-Ri- os and the team looked at the outcomes. They found that the patient satisfaction was “very high,” says Dr. Yepes-Rios and that the meals did reduce the num- ber of trips to the hospital. “We saw that if we compared six months prior to starting the study to six months after the study, there was a sta- tistically significant decrease in hospital utilization and emergency room utili- zation,” she adds. “So, definitely a cost
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CLEVELAND CLINIC
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