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Dive Overview:
Instacart Health on Wednesday announced a partnership with Northwell Health, New York state’s largest health care provider, to expand access to nutritious food and encourage healthy lifestyle choices. Northwell will leverage Instacart’s platform to support programs that address “social determinants of health,” such as food access and transportation. The partnership’s first program will focus on improving access to nutritious food for pregnant women in food-insecure Black and brown communities. Instacart has built out its food-as-medicine division over the past few years, rolled out digital solutions that link to health and hunger efforts, and expanded partnerships to improve health equity.
Dive Insights:
According to a blog post from Instacart, Instacart and Northwell Health will be launching a number of health and wellness programs focused specifically on maternal health, youth nutrition education and employee health.
The first program from the partnership will integrate Instacart Health tools into Northwell’s Maternal Outcomes and Morbidity Collaborative. Selected customers will be able to access nutritional guidance and other support throughout their pregnancy with Instacart Health Fresh Funds, an online grocery allowance and Northwell’s Healthy Choices Storefront on the Instacart platform.
“Our collaboration with Instacart is part of our comprehensive community health efforts, providing our staff, patients and communities with the tools and resources to access nutritious food,” Debbie Salas Lopez, senior vice president of Northwell’s Department of Community and Population Health, said in a statement.
Earlier this year, Instacart announced a new public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services aimed at identifying opportunities to support food-as-medicine programs, research and policy priorities.
These types of jobs aren’t new for Instacart: Last year, the grocery technology company introduced several digital solutions to further its health-focused efforts, including offering health care providers, health systems and hospitals the ability to expand their food-as-medicine programs through virtual storefronts and other tools.
