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Fresh Food Farmacy

A. Hess, M. Passaretti, S. Coolbaugh
Am J Health Promot

Geisinger is an integrated health-care delivery system providing care to more than 3 million residents throughout central, south-central, and northeastern Pennsylvania and extending into southern New Jersey at AtlantiCare. Our physician-led system includes approximately 32,000 employees, nearly 1800 employed physicians, 13 hospital campuses, 2 research centers, and contains a school of medicine. Geisinger is also a health insurance provider and provides coverage to nearly 600,000 members.

Geisinger takes our commitment to health-care innovation seriously. Faced with the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes and escalating concerns from health-care providers regarding patient nonadherence, we stepped back to reflect on other factors that could be contributing to our patient’s overall health. Noncompliance is defined as the failure or refusal to comply with something. The question remained: How can one comply if they lack the necessary skills, tools, or resources to adhere to recommended treatment? For example, if an individual is food insecure and cannot provide food for themselves and/or their family, it is unreasonable to assume that they can be compliant with treatment for a condition where food is a major factor in the health outcomes they are attempting to achieve. That question served as the catalyst in creating the Fresh Food Farmacy. The need for the Fresh Food Farmacy was confirmed by Geisinger’s annual community health needs assessment, which underscored rising rates of type 2 diabetes and increasing concerns associated with social determinants of health.

Hess A, Passaretti M, Coolbaugh S. Fresh Food Farmacy. Am J Health Promot. 2019;33(5):830-832. PMID: 31120339. DOI: 10.1177/0890117119845711d.

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Publication year
Resource type
Peer Reviewed Research
Outcomes
Health & Health Behaviors
Social Determinant of Health
Food/Hunger
Study design
Other Study Design