Using Technology to Address Food Insecurity

In February, our President & CEO, Karen Pearl, presented on a panel titled “Community-Based Programs Moving the Needle on Outcomes” at the Unite Us Annual Summit. The panel showcased the innovative work that God’s Love and other community-based organizations are pioneering and then focused on challenges that must be addressed to make partnerships with healthcare successful.

Unite Us is a technology company that builds coordinated care networks that facilitate referrals from healthcare providers to community-based organizations, like God’s Love. We are very excited to be working with Unite Us and others on a project that tests a risk-based needs assessment for food and nutrition services. This project, called the Food and Nutrition Services Bundle, was born out of our discussions with clinicians and healthcare plans. There is a lot of confusion on the clinical side on what types of food and nutrition services are necessary for patients. For example, at God’s Love, we serve those who are sick and unable to shop or cook for themselves, but some patients may only need a grocery bag program or to be enrolled in SNAP benefits.