Disruptive Innovators: Hospitals Increase Community Access To Healthier Food

Hospitals are leading the way to improving population health

A number of hospitals across the country have set out to demonstrate that healthy diets improve patient health and reduce healthcare costs. Those efforts got a boost recently when the Union of Concerned Scientists released an analysis of the benefits of improving patient health through better access to fresher, healthier food.

Among the good news for the healthy food movement, the advocacy group found that increasing the overall consumption of fruits and vegetables could save more than 100,000 lives and $17 billion in healthcare costs from heart disease each year.

“The local food movement has caught on in a big way in the last five to seven years,” said Sharon Sheldon, health promotion and disease prevention program administrator for Washtenaw County Public Health in Michigan. WCPH is one of many organizations across the country taking part in the Healthy Food in Healthcare Pledge, a program spearheaded by Health Care Without Harm.