Cassidy, Colleagues Introduce Bill to Improve Seniors’ Health

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) introduced the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Program Pilot Act to provide access to medically-tailored meals, addressing the crisis of chronic disease in seniors. Medically tailored meals are designed by dieticians to manage or reverse severe diet-related illnesses and have shown promising results in reducing patients' hospitalizations and lowering healthcare spending.

"Nutrition can determine how long patients stay out of the hospital," said Dr. Cassidy. "For seniors with a chronic medical condition, healthy meals are essential."

"As longtime advocates for policy initiatives that address the connection between nutrition and health, FIMC is deeply appreciative of Representatives McGovern, Malliotakis, Pingree, Fitzpatrick and Evans and Senators Booker, Marshall, Cassidy and Smith for their introduction of the Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Program Pilot Act. This program will not only address the gap in access to medically tailored meals for older Americans and people with disabilities, but it will provide the data we need to make our health care system more efficient and patient centered. We look forward to working with these bipartisan champions, the Administration, and legislators on both sides of the aisle to advance this important bill," said Alissa Wassung, Executive Director, Food Is Medicine Coalition.

"Older Americans face an urgent crisis of diet-related disease-sapping their well-being, vitality, and retirement savings. It's time to reimagine our approach to health, and to recall the wisdom of the past, by integrating nourishing food into our national healthcare programs," said Dariush Mozaffarian, Cardiologist and Director of the Food Is Medicine Institute, Tufts University.

Cassidy was joined by U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-MN), Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), and Cory Booker (D-NJ) in introducing the legislation.

Last week, the group wrote a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, urging the agency to establish standardized billing codes for Medically Tailored Meals (MTMs) to help streamline reimbursements.

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