Community building and the importance of food pantries from a lived experience perspective.

The recent approval of New York’s Medicaid Section 1115 Demonstration Waiver presents enormous opportunities to better address the connection between diet and health across the state. However, with these opportunities come new risks and challenges for nutrition organizations, health care providers, and plans. This FED talk will describe the 1115 Waiver initiative, and why it is so critical for nutrition stakeholders to lean in so that the waiver does not become a missed opportunity for the state.

Dive into the transformative potential of relationship-building in reshaping local food systems. Focused on BIPOC and immigrant communities in upstate New York, they will share insights on fostering collaboration between government agencies, food partners, mutual aid networks and immigrant groups. Attendees will learn about the initiatives undertaken, shared practices of sustainability through partnership and collaborative projects supporting systemically underserved communities. The speakers will outline strategic steps, challenges faced, and innovative solutions implemented. This presentation aims to inspire actionable insights for organizations seeking to strengthen safety nets through collaborative partnerships and food justice efforts.

Medicare beneficiaries are often diagnosed with serious illnesses such as congestive heart failure, severe diabetes, chronic kidney disease and other diagnoses. Providing medically tailored home-delivered meals to individuals experiencing complex and severe illness has demonstrated that these meals yield a lower number of hospitalizations and a decrease in emergency room visits. Learn about The Medically Tailored Home-Delivered Meals Demonstration Act, an opportunity with bipartisan support to serve Medicare beneficiaries across the country over a period of four years. This FED talk will review the details of how meals are currently covered in Medicare and how the proposed Demonstration Act will provide the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) an opportunity to evaluate more fully how the model achieves savings and maintains or improves quality and where CMS has the authority to expand the model to be incorporated into the full Medicare program.

We will present the results of a study of 213 pantry consumers who receive their groceries via home delivery vs. in-pantry visits. The sample consists of consumers who utilize pantries in four counties of the Capital Region. Our Fed talk will focus on why home delivery is a much needed service.