Table 1.

Example advocacy opportunities for healthcare providers (Clinicians, Health Systems, Accountable Care Organizations, and so on) to support food as medicine initiatives for children

Food as medicine intervention	Advocacy considerations	Local level	State level	Federal level
Medically Tailored Meals (MTM)	Expand Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) coverage and flexibilities around food as medicine initiatives and encourage states to utilize thema		X	X
	Support historically and economically marginalized farmers and distributors through collaboration and consistent purchasing of food for intervention distributiona	X	X	X
Medically Tailored Groceries (MTG)	Support clinic food pantries providing MTGs through partnerships with food banks or other food delivery vendors	X
Produce Prescriptions (PRx)	Build relationships with local food hubs, grocers, or farmers markets to streamline produce deliveries	X	X
	Partner with food growers and distributors who prioritize equitable and sustainable practices to help build a better food system that rewards climate-smart and environmentally friendly practicesa	X	X	X
Federal Nutrition Programs	Permanently offer all children access to healthy meals throughout the school day and summertime		X	X
	Support Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) enrollment and utilization (such as co-locating services within a healthcare setting)	X	X	X
	Support extension of WIC age eligibility to support children starting kindergarten at age 6 years old		X	X
Population/Community Health Food Policies & Programs	Support automated processes to ease enrollment, share applications for Medicaid members to enroll/recertify for desired eligible federal nutrition programs		X	X
Nutrition Education & Counseling	Encourage food insecurity screening and intervening as part of standard dietary assessment and management protocol	X

^aApplicable for Medically Tailored Meals, Medically Tailored Groceries, and Produce Prescriptions.