Quarterly Network Meetings
We hold quarterly virtual convenings, bringing together food advocates and health stakeholders to discuss current policy challenges and solutions for improving food security through Medicaid. All are welcome.
Next Meeting: November 20, 2025
The Medicaid Food Security Network is excited to announce its next virtual quarterly convening on Thursday, November 20 at 11:30 PST / 2:30 EST. You can register here.
We’ll preview a new MFSN guide to Food is Medicine (FIM) cost-effectiveness analysis for state governments and advocates co-developed with actuaries. We’ll also share insights and programmatic experience on integrative approaches to FIM, as discussed in the recently released MFSN brief on how Food is Medicine is complementary with SNAP & WIC.
We’ll hear from:
• Sara Teppema, President, Alta Advisers/Chief Actuary, Wildflower Health
• Kim Prendergast, Vice President, Policy & Strategy, Community Care Cooperative (C3)
• Amanda Bank, Program Officer, Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS)
September 2025
We’re sharing the edited recording and slides from the September 4th convening. As you may know, this convening experienced a “Zoom bomb” attack when unauthorized individuals joined and screenshared explicit content. The offensive material has been edited out; however, there are verbal references to the disruption. Again, we sincerely apologize for the inappropriate disruption and are taking action to prevent future attacks.
Also, we appreciate the positive feedback on the Food Is Medicine (FIM) presentations by:
- Elaine Borawski, Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Medicine
- Kristen McEnroe, Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation
- Cathryn Couch, Ceres Community Project
- Colby Schaeffer, Incline Actuarial Group
Since the convening, Colby Schaeffer has updated the slide titled “Pilot Results of FreshRx” to add clarity based on a breakout room question about the 28.5% BMI reduction and notes:
This was a 28.5% expected total cost of care (TCOC) reduction for those who had notable weight loss in the FreshRx cohort. Their weight/BMI loss was not 28.5% but rather 3.5%. Not everyone lost weight or had A1C improvement, so the expected medical savings were further reduced by accounting for effectiveness across the cohort. Due to the wide range in potential outcomes stemming from a small sample size, Incline focused on low-to-average effectiveness. Even with accounting for the program’s administrative expenses, this suggested net savings from FIM.