Programmatic Partnerships
Together, we can improve your clients’ healthcare outcomes and reduce the cost of care.
We work with partners – clinics, insurers, community organizations and beyond – through a fee-for-service model to get your clients the nourishment they need, when they need it most.
Medically Tailored Meals | Nutrition Counseling | Client Check-Ins and Updates
Our Impact:
- 81.2% of those who were at risk of malnutrition at onboarding decreased their risk while receiving our meals
- 94% report that our meals helped to improve or maintain their health
- 90% report that our meals helped them stay out of the hospital and/or emergency room
- 97% report that our meals help them continue to live at home and remain independent
How We Help Your Clients
Open Arms of Minnesota is one of a select group of organizations nationally – and the only one in the Midwest – accredited by the Food is Medicine Coalition to provide home delivered medically tailored meals. This designation reflects our commitment to meeting rigorous standards of quality – from our ingredients to the care our clients receive. Together, we follow a standardized model to drive better health outcomes.
Medically Tailored Meals are designed by registered dietitians and aligned to each client’s health condition. When integrated into care, Medically Tailored Meals are associated with fewer hospitalizations and lower total medical costs – especially for high-risk populations.
Published studies on Medically Tailored Meals show the following:
- 70% reduction in Emergency Department visits
Seth A. Berkowitz et al., Association Between Receipt of a Medically Tailored Meal Program and Health Care Use, JAMA, (2019) - 16% reduction in monthly healthcare costs
Seth A. Berkowitz et al, Meal Delivery Programs Reduce the Use Of Costly Health Care In Dually Eligible Medicare And Medicaid Beneficiaries, HEALTH AFFAIRS, (2018). - 49% reduction in inpatient admissions
Seth A. Berkowitz et al., Association Between Receipt of a Medically Tailored Meal Program and Health Care Use, JAMA, (2019) - Expanding medically tailored meal programs nationwide could result in $13.6 billion in annual cost savings
Hager K et al. Association of National Expansion of Insurance Coverage of Medically Tailored Meals With Estimated Hospitalizations and Health Care Expenditures in the US. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(10):e2236898. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.36898
What We Offer
Contract Medically Tailored Meals
Enroll your clients into our programming to receive home delivered meals, nutritional counseling, and a community of care – no wait list, guaranteed timely enrollment.
Bulk Meals
Stock your clinic, housing site, or community location with healthy, culturally familiar, ready-to-eat entrees for your team to distribute.
Nutrition & Culinary Services
Tap our experts – per hour consulting rates for our registered dietitians to work with your clients, or our professional chefs to optimize your kitchen or train your teams.
Who We Serve
Our meals are healthy for everyone. They are especially designed to support the complex nutritional needs of individuals diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, cancer, end-stage renal disease (ESRD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and other critical health conditions. We also offer culturally tailored menus – Hmong and East African – plus vegetarian and dairy and gluten friendly options (please note Open Arms is not an allergen-free facility) as well as pureed meals.
While developed for the conditions above, our meals use balanced, whole-food recipes that make them a strong fit for most diets. We partner with organizations to provide a healthy, nutritious option for clients, even when programs aren’t diagnosis specific.
How We Serve Your Clients
Referral & onboarding:
- You refer a client for Medically Tailored Meals
- Our onboarding specialists enroll your client
Delivery Options:
- Volunteer home delivery across the Twin Cities metro (mid-day windows).
- Pick-up at Minneapolis or Saint Paul campus or partner satellite sites (option to establish a new satellite).
- Regional shipping via UPS
Data & Reporting
- Short pilot projects help quantify impact, build buy-in, and refine workflows before scaling
- We’ll align on metrics (utilization, engagement, client satisfaction; clinical or utilization indicators when available)
Customization
- Tell us about your goals and we’ll develop a solution rooted in our Food is Medicine expertise
Meal Inquiry
Thank you for your interest in contracting meal services! We would love to partner with you. Please follow the link below to complete the form and someone will reach out to you ASAP.
PARTNERS SNAPSHOT
We collaborate with regional health plans, specialty providers, and community care hubs.
- UCare and Hennepin Healthcare: Pilot partnership to provide Medically Tailored Meals and Groceries to improve health outcomes of individuals with high-risk pregnancies
- Davita: Partnership to provide individuals living with ESRD or CKD with Medically Tailored Meals
- Children’s Minnesota: Partnership for a controlled study to evaluate the impact of Medically-Tailored Meals on diet quality in Pediatric oncology patients
- Partnership with a Medicare Advantage Plan to provide shipped and delivered Medically Tailored Meals and provide access to Registered Dietitians to plan members
- Partnership with a local foundation to provide Nutrition Education from our Registered Dieticians to clients with cancer diagnoses
- Partnership with a Federally Qualified Health Center to provide pregnant individuals with Medically Tailored Meals
- Partnership with a newly founded adult day care to provide a Registered Dietician’s approval of snack and meal offerings
READY TO EXPLORE?
For more information, please contact Emilie Cagnazzo, Business Partnerships Manager, at [email protected].
