If You Prescribe It, Will They Come? An Initial Evaluation of a Hospital-Based Food Prescription Program in...

Purpose: To evaluate usage of, satisfaction with, and barriers to a food prescription program (FPP) in under-resourced patients with food insecurity who were undergoing or had undergone metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) at our institution. Setting: A 867 bed teaching hospital and tertiary care center located in Hartford, CT. Intervention: Patients were written a prescription for the hospital-based FPP from May to October 2022. 33 patients completed an anonymous online survey addressing program strengths and barriers to program usage. Outcomes: 87.8% were female, 24.2% were African American, 21.2% Caucasian, and 45.4% were Latino. The mean age was 43.4 years and the mean BMI was 41.7 kg/m². Most (75.8%) had undergone MBS. Thirty patients (90.9%) visited the FPP at least once; 83% returned. Staff helpfulness, food quality, language spoken and convenience of location emerged as program strengths. Transportation, parking, operating hours, health issues, cultural appropriateness, and inadequate supplies of food plus inability to store or reheat food emerged as barriers to program usage. Lessons learned: Prescribing nutritious foods for patients with food insecurity and comorbidities does not ensure they can or will fully utilize the prescriptions. Compliance with food prescriptions should be managed in the same manner as medication prescriptions.