Northwell Health partners with Instacart to expand access to nutritious food for patients, staff
Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system, and Instacart announced a partnership through the Instacart Health initiative. The partnership leverages Instacart’s platform and products to expand access to nutritious food, inspire sustainable healthy choices and scale food as health programs to reach diverse Northwell communities.
“Raising health is more than the care Northwell provides in our hospitals and doctors’ offices. It’s also about how we raise up the people in our communities and how we raise our expectations of what health can be, which is why Northwell contributes more than $2 billion in community benefit annually,” said Debbie Salas-Lopez, senior vice president of Northwell’s Office of Community Wellness and Population Health. “The collaboration with Instacart is part of our comprehensive community health effort and will provide tools and resources to access nutritious foods for our staff, patients and communities.”
Through the partnership, Northwell will use Instacart Health tools to support unique programs that address social determinants of health including access to healthy food and transportation.
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“We believe that Food is Health. And it’s important to us to meet the needs of the communities we serve, which is why we pursued an Instacart partnership,” said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell.
The first program to launch integrates Instacart Health tools into Northwell’s Center for Maternal Health Maternal Outcomes and Morbidity Collaborative (MOMS) so that moms-to-be who are food insecure have improved access to fresh and nutritious food. Northwell Health is particularly focused on addressing maternal health in Black and Brown communities who have long-standing disparities in maternal care. Using Instacart Health Fresh Funds, category-specific online grocery stipends, and Northwell’s Healthy Choices Storefront on Instacart, Northwell is providing moms-to-be with nutrition guidance and support during their pregnancies.
“Instacart offers families across the country the convenience of same-day delivery from their favorite stores, reaching over 98% of U.S. households. By partnering with Northwell Health, we’re leveraging our scale and Health tools to create impactful nutrition access and education programs that help solve real community challenges,” said Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president and general manager of Instacart Health.
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Mastrorocco added, “Studies show that a healthy diet during pregnancy can greatly improve the health of both moms and babies and reduce the risk of several common complications. By offering our Fresh Funds stipends to give mothers more convenient access to nutritious food, and consumer tools that make Northwell Health’s expert guidance actionable, we’re supporting programs that help make our communities healthier.”