Study finds addressing food insecurity reduced healthcare utilization by 30%

In 2017, Reading Hospital was awarded a $4.5 million grant from CMS to implement the Accountable Health Communities (AHC) model and assess whether addressing the health-related social needs of local Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries would impact their healthcare costs and inpatient and outpatient healthcare utilization. This case study looks at 747 patients with resolved food needs and finds that among this cohort, emergency department visits dropped 32%, hospital admissions decreased 32%, readmissions were reduced by 30%, and hospital costs went down 31%. Among the patients who were also on the Diabetes Registry, A1C rates decreased by an average of 2.2%