People who are “food insecure” and also have chronic conditions can be kept out of the hospital and the emergency department (ED) when meals are delivered to their homes—particularly meals that have been tailored to their needs by a dietitian. 

The Health Affairs study led by Seth Berkowitz, MD, now a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina but was working at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School during the study, was limited to Massachusetts. The savings could be as high as $220 per person when focused on Medicare/Medicaid dual-eligible population.

The study compared interventions in two different ways: 133 people got five days’ worth of meals tailored to their individual needs, such as diabetes or kidney disease. Another 624 people received deliveries similar to what is provided by Meals on Wheels. Improvements were seen in both groups, but the customized meals seemed to produce greater benefits—that group had 70 percent fewer emergency department visits and 72 percent fewer calls for an ambulance than similar patients who didn’t receive meals.

The Meals on Wheels-like group had 44 percent fewer ED visits and 38 percent fewer calls for an ambulance than the comparison group.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times: