Innovation at the Edge: How Community Health Centers Are Leading Food as Medicine

In partnership with National Association Community Health Center Community Health Centers (CHCs) have earned the trust of 52 million or 1 in 7 people across the US, including 1 in 3 in rural America—delivering high-quality, affordable, comprehensive primary care individuals, families, and communities for the past 60 years. With a workforce of 330K+ health professionals and an annual budget of $57B in 2025, CHCs are the ideal partners of choice as they are leading patient-led, health innovation in over 17K locations across the country. Since the first CHC was founded in 1965, access to affordable, nutritious foods – and “food prescriptions” – have been core to the CHC model of comprehensive primary care and “going beyond the exam room” to address the needs of our patients. CHCs are now pioneering scalable, community-rooted innovations to integrate nutrition into primary care, through digital solutions and hyper-local partnerships. Discover how CHCs are ideal partners for piloting solutions for food as medicine, from improving access to nutritious foods, to integrating nutrition education into primary care, providing medically tailored meals, and managing chronic disease among complex patient populations. Moderator: Camila Silva, Director of Innovation, NACHC Panelists: Adam Wallace, Director, Instacart Health Milo Krastev, Co-Founder and EVP of Growth, Foodsmart Julia Liou, CEO, Asian Health Services