Since 2020, About Fresh has worked with health providers and managed care organizations to put prepaid grocery cards in the hands of over 25,000 food-insecure individuals, connecting grocery access to clinical care for people managing chronic illnesses.
The Fresh Connect cards have been used to purchase $10 million’s worth of fresh produce and other healthy food at retail stores including Walmart, Stop & Shop and Target.
“Affordability is the leading barrier to healthy eating — and it’s exactly what Fresh Connect is designed to address,” said About Fresh’s Adam Shyevitch. The Boston-based food and health nonprofit will use the low-cost bridge loan from the nonprofit ReHealth Collaborative to provide 4,000 eligible Medicaid members in Massachusetts with Fresh Connect cards over the next 15 months.
“Food is a critical component of health, and this loan will help low-income individuals and families access healthy, nutritious food, reduce stress associated with food insecurity, and improve health outcomes,” ReHealth’s Caryn Capriccioso told ImpactAlpha. “The financing is catalytic because it helps bridge About Fresh to contracted reimbursement and other sources of capital, supporting pathways to longer-term funding for the program.”
Impact-first lending
About Fresh says Fresh Connect has cut hospitalizations and healthcare costs, the kind of results health plans want from food-as-medicine and other prevention interventions.
About Fresh will repay ReHealth’s loan through MassHealth reimbursements tied to patient health outcomes. The nonprofit will report Fresh Connect’s impact outcomes, such as utilization rate and dollar amount spent on nutritious food, to ReHealth.
In Texas and Utah, About Fresh has partnered with the University of Utah and Rockefeller Foundation to provide Fresh Connect cards to veterans (see, “The Rx for what ails Americans might be healthy food”).
