Integrating Nutritious Food into Healthcare Through Telehealth and Digital Platforms
ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, announced the launch of its new Virtual Foodcare Coalition, a dynamic advocacy group committed to developing policies that align virtual care with food and nutritional support to promote health, help prevent disease, and manage chronic conditions.
“This coalition of industry thought leaders aims to effectively integrate healthy, nutritious food as a fundamental component of healthcare, regardless of the patient’s location, to help maintain health, prevent disease, and assist with managing chronic conditions,” said Kyle Zebley, executive director, ATA Action, and senior vice president, public policy, the ATA. “Our Virtual Foodcare Coalition seeks to improve health outcomes and reduce costs more sustainably, by promoting the use of evidence-based nutritional counseling and real-time food buying assistance through innovative technology.”
Founding members of the Virtual Foodcare Coalition include thought leaders from healthcare, nutrition, and telehealth:
- Albertsons® Companies, Inc.
- Circle Medical
- Foodsmart
- hims & hers
- Lifepoint Health
- Nixon Law Group
- Nourish
- Teladoc Health
The Virtual Foodcare Coalition has identified the following Policy Priorities:
- Support the Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) Act: Advocate for expanded Medicare coverage for nutrition therapy through telehealth for all conditions where foodcare generates improvements in health outcomes and cost-effectiveness. This includes obesity, prediabetes, hypertension, and other chronic conditions. Building on lessons from other areas of care, work to reduce referral burdens that create unnecessary barriers and support broader adoption of virtual foodcare through targeted Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) demonstration projects.
- Support Funding for Medically Tailored Food and Food Benefits Management that Foster Optimal ROI and Sustained Impact: Advocate for federal and state agencies to adopt long-term food benefits management programs to manage evidence-based medically tailored foods that bridge members to lasting results generated via virtual nutrition counseling.
- Rationalize Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and School Meals; Align with Clean Food Initiatives: Advance and make permanent online access and digital enrollment pathways for USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to expand reach and usability. Virtual access to these programs is essential to improving nutritional support for vulnerable populations, particularly when integrated into telehealth workflows, remote patient monitoring, and digital foodcare platforms. Furthermore, integrating virtual access to medical nutrition therapy into these programs has the potential to benefit enrollees, particularly those who are high risk due to obesity or with nutrition-related chronic diseases. Aligning these benefits with clean food initiatives where appropriate will help drive better outcomes and improve the overall effectiveness of nutrition support programs across schools, families, and communities.
- Expand Reimbursement and Incentive Models for Telenutrition, Remote Monitoring Devices, Remote Therapeutic Monitoring and Foodscripts: Leverage the growing body of controlled studies demonstrating the sustained ROI from virtual foodcare to achieve true coverage parity for telenutrition—ensuring all payers reimburse both in-person and virtual care. This includes advancing cost-effective, personalized diagnostics and remote monitoring tools such as continuous glucose monitors and expanding remote therapeutic monitoring to encompass comprehensive nutrition monitoring, creating appropriate reimbursement pathways for nutrition-focused digital health services. Prioritizing preventive care through these tools represents the ultimate ROI for the nation’s health system, reducing long-term costs and improving population health outcomes. Urge policymakers to create provider incentives and safe harbors that support the prescribing of foodscripts, while also encouraging electronic health record (EHR) vendors to engage in provider outreach campaigns that integrate virtual foodcare tools into clinical workflows and standard care protocols to accelerate adoption.
- Facilitate Cross-State Nutritional Healthcare Delivery: Address barriers to virtual nutrition services across state lines for dietitians, pharmacists, and healthcare providers.
In September 2024, the ATA and ATA Action released its Policy Principles for Virtual Foodcare, a framework to support personalized dietary interventions and nutritional guidance within the healthcare system via telehealth platforms:
- Ensure Patient Choice, Access, and Satisfaction
- Enhance Provider Autonomy
- Expand Reimbursement and Advocate for Coverage of Tele-Nutrition Services
- Enable Nutritional Healthcare Delivery Across State Lines
- Ensure Access to Non-Physician Providers
- Expand Access for Underserved and At-risk Populations
- Support Seniors and Expand “Aging in Place”
- Protect Patient Privacy and Mitigate Cybersecurity Risks
- Ensure Program Integrity
“We look forward to working with President Trump, HHS Secretary Kennedy, CMS Administrator Oz, and federal and state leaders and policymakers across the nation on the important issue of integrating nutrition to improve health outcomes,” Zebley added. “By 2030, it’s expected that many people will leave their doctor’s office with both a prescription for medicine and one for food. We’re working to make that a reality by advocating for policies that enable accessible nutritional advice and support, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs with innovative technologies.”
Virtual Foodcare at Nexus 2025 (May 3-6, New Orleans)
As healthcare recognizes the critical link between nutrition and health outcomes, Foodcare is becoming a key component of patient care. Nexus 2025 will explore how Virtual Foodcare innovations can help with chronic disease management, enhance nutrition-focused interventions, and empower patients through consumer-centric technology. ATA Action will discuss scalable solutions at the intersection of health, food, and technology.
For more information about the ATA’s Nexus 2025 annual conference, and to register, click here.
About the ATA
As the only organization completely focused on advancing telehealth and digital platforms, the American Telemedicine Association is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and appropriate care when and where they need it, enabling the system to do more good for more people. The ATA represents a broad and inclusive member network of leading healthcare delivery systems, academic institutions, technology solution providers and payers, as well as partner organizations and alliances, working to advance industry adoption of telehealth, promote responsible policy, advocate for government and market normalization, and provide education and resources to help integrate virtual care into emerging value-based delivery models.
About ATA Action
ATA Action recognizes that telehealth and virtual care have the potential to transform the healthcare delivery system by improving patient outcomes, enhancing the safety and effectiveness of care, addressing health disparities, and reducing costs. ATA Action is a registered 501c6 entity and an affiliated trade organization of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).