Grocery delivery services company Instacart has launched Instacart Health, which the company says will work to make nutritious food more accessible and address social determinants of health.
Instacart Health aims to expand the role food can play in improving health outcomes. Access to healthy food and nutrition is one of the pillars of social determinants of health that can have a huge impact on physical and mental health, as well as longevity.
The move comes as Instacart is preparing to launch an initial public offering. The company was considered a darling of the COVID-19 pandemic as more Americans turned to delivery for food and essentials.
Instacart Health was launched in coordination with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo participated in the conference, underscoring the intersection of food and health, as well as the role that private companies can play in improving Americans’ health.
“Instacart has become a staple in millions of households, which puts us at the heart of the relationship that people have with food, and therefore, their health,” Simo said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to use the power of our platform, products and partnerships to expand access to nutritious food and improve health outcomes.”
According to Instacart, 1 in 10 people in the United States don’t have access to reliable nutritious food, and more than 100 million individuals suffer from diet-related disease. To address this issue, Instacart Health is focused on three pillars––nutrition security, health made easy and food as medicine.
Among Instacart’s new products and partnerships is Fresh Funds, which enables organizations of all types to give people funds to buy nutritious food from grocery stores on the Instacart app. Organizations can also dictate and limit spend to certain food categories, such as produce, to incentivize healthy choices and provide access to people who might have found the products cost prohibitive in the past. Instacart is planning to launch a Fresh Funds pilot with nonprofit Partnership for a Healthier America, which works to transform food landscapes in pursuit of health equity. The pilot will start in Indiana and expand nationwide in 2023.
In addition, Instacart is building technology to support produce and food prescription programs that positively impact health outcomes for glycemic control, HIV and hypertension. Instacart will announce new Fresh Funds pilot programs with public and private sector organizations in the coming months to scale food prescription programs.
Another new product, Care Carts, is designed to give healthcare providers and caregivers the ability to order groceries on behalf of someone else. This may be especially helpful for healthcare providers that need to deliver groceries and medical supplies to patients post-hospital discharge. The product can also work for clinicians who want to deliver groceries for a patient’s prescribed meal plan or caregivers who want to send groceries to a friend or family member from afar. Several organizations are already using Care Carts, including digital nutrition platform Good Measures in partnership with WellCare of Kentucky; hospital-at-home solution provider Medically Home; food solutions and care management platform NourishedRx in partnership with a number of health plans; and digital nutrition services Season Health and Foodsmart, Instacart said.
WellCare of Kentucky plans to offer its Medicaid patients with high blood pressure the option to participate in Good Measures’ Good Food Prescription program, which enables participants to work with a registered dietitian to personalize a nutrition program and have the groceries delivered to them.
Instacart’s new offering also aims to clearly identify foods with labels such as low-salt, low-sugar, keto, gluten-free and more, as well as expand its library of healthy recipes. The grocery delivery company has also teamed up with the USDA to expand EBT SNAP payment access to Instacart grocery partners in all 50 states in 2023. Instacart aims to expand EBT SNAP access to all Instacart grocery partners by 2030.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."