Explore every episode of the podcast Essential: A Food is Medicine Podcast

What does the research really tell us about the connection between nutrition and health? In the first episode of Essential: A Food is Medicine Podcast, host Alissa Wassung from the Food is Medicine Coalition sits down with researcher Dr. Kurt Hager to explore the growing evidence behind Food is Medicine interventions, including medically tailored meals. They discuss what studies are showing about health outcomes, hospitalizations and healthcare costs—and why nutrition deserves a place in healthcare.

Along the way, you’ll hear from Jules, a Community Servings client who received medically tailored meals while managing gestational diabetes during pregnancy and postpartum.

Essential is a four-part podcast series from the Food is Medicine Coalition exploring why medically tailored nutrition is an essential part of healthcare.

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Podcast Speakers: 

Dr. Kurt Hager – Assistant Professor, Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School  

Alissa Wassung – Executive Director, Food is Medicine Coalition 

Jules - Community Servings Client 

Rebecca Kahn– Director of Nutrition Services, Food & Friends 

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Research Articles: 

1. Hager K, Cudhea FP, Wong JB, et al. Association of National Expansion of Insurance Coverage of Medically Tailored Meals With Estimated Hospitalizations and Health Care Expenditures in the US. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(10):e2236898. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36898 
2. Deng, S., Hager, K., Wang, L., Cudhea, F. P., Wong, J. B., Kim, D. D., & Mozaffarian, D. (2025). Estimated Impact Of Medically Tailored Meals On Health Care Use And Expenditures In 50 US States. Health affairs (Project Hope), 44(4), 433–442. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2024.01307 
3. Hager, K., Alcusky, M., Zhang, F. F., Sing, G., Ash, A., Mick, E., Terranova, J., DiBacco, E., Buckler, S., Rich, A., Bowman, J., Folta, S., Prendergast, K., Frank, J., Ball, C., Chiang, J. S., & Mozaffarian, D. (2026). Medically tailored meals receipt and healthcare utilization and costs in Massachusetts' Medicaid demonstration. Nature medicine, 32(6), 2147–2154. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04407-5 
4. Hager K, Berkowitz SA. The Future of Nutrition Interventions in Medicaid. JAMA Intern Med. 2026;186(4):398–400. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.7194 
5. Clark, J. M., Maw, M. T. T., Pettway, K., Chander, G., Elias, S., Zisow-McClean, S., Maruthur, N. M., & Greer, R. C. (2025). Impact of Medically Tailored Meals on Clinical Outcomes Among Low-Income Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Randomized Trial. Journal of general internal medicine, 40(8), 1711–1719. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-024-09248-x   

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FIMC Resources 

• About FIMC: https://fimcoalition.org/about-fimc/ 
• Client Stories: https://fimcoalition.org/food-is-medicine-stories/ 
• Find a FIMC Agency: https://fimcoalition.org/find-agency/ - Nearly fifty nonprofits are members of the coalition and collectively delivered millions of meals and meal equivalents to individuals last year. Find services using the link above. 

Medically Tailored Meals Definition: https://fimcoalition.org/about-fimc/our-model/ 

• A Medically Tailored Meal (MTM) is a component of the MTM Intervention. MTMs are meals delivered to individuals of all ages who live with severe, chronic, or complex illness(es) and/or experience activities of daily living limitations, as deemed necessary by a healthcare professional and defined in the Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) MTM Accreditation Criteria and Requirements. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) tailors meal plans to meet the medical needs of the client according to the FIMC Nutrition Standards. MTMs are designed to improve health outcomes, lower cost of care and increase client satisfaction. 

Research: https://fimcoalition.org/research/  

• Published Research: More than 20 published studies have examined the impact of FIMC agency-delivered MTM and MTG services on health outcomes, healthcare savings, and patient satisfaction.   
• Research In Process: An additional 30 research studies of varying methodologies are currently underway in partnership with FIMC agencies, investigating the impact of MTM and MTG services on priority populations.  
• FIMC’s new resource Food is Medicine Interventions Lower Costly Healthcare Utilization in States examines evaluations of real-world programs in North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Maryland. Studies found that sustained access to food is medicine interventions leads to lower healthcare utilization and reduced costs over time. The largest cost-savings are seen among the highest-acuity, highest-cost patients, which MTM and MTG programs are explicitly designed for.  

The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is the national coalition of nonprofit organizations that provide medically tailored meals (MTMs) and groceries (MTGs), medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling and education to people in communities across the country living with severe, complex and chronic conditions. We advance access to these life-saving interventions through policy change, research and evaluation, and best practices. FIMC agencies created the MTM intervention forty years ago as a response to community need during the HIV epidemic. FIMC offers a community of learning for existing practitioners, equips new organizations to launch medically tailored meal programs, and accredits agencies against our fieldwide standards. FIMC agencies created the medically tailored meal (MTM) intervention forty years ago as a response to community need during the HIV epidemic.   

Food is Medicine services are not a "nice to have," but essential components of healthcare. Our new podcast, Essential: A Food is Medicine Podcast, explains why.

This four-part first season features voices from across healthcare, nutrition, policy, research and community organizations who are helping redefine how we think about food, chronic illness and care. 

Listen to the teaser episode and subscribe for upcoming conversations.

Voices featured in this trailer:

Alissa Wassung, Executive Director, Food is Medicine Coalition

Kurt Hager, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor, Population & Quantitative Health Sciences, UMass Chan Medical School

Laura Samnadda MS, RDN, LD, Director of Nutrition Services, Open Hand Atlanta

Ammy Villafane, Client of Open Hand Atlanta

The Food is Medicine Coalition (FIMC) is the national coalition of nonprofit organizations that provide medically tailored meals (MTMs) and groceries (MTGs), medical nutrition therapy and nutrition counseling and education to people in communities across the country living with severe, complex and chronic conditions. We advance access to these life-saving interventions through policy change, research and evaluation, and best practices. FIMC agencies created the MTM intervention forty years ago as a response to community need during the HIV epidemic. FIMC offers a community of learning for existing practitioners, equips new organizations to launch medically tailored meal programs, and accredits agencies against our fieldwide standards. FIMC agencies created the medically tailored meal (MTM) intervention forty years ago as a response to community need during the HIV epidemic.