FAHC Network

Our Network is currently focused on building capacity to develop and implement policies, secure project funding, and directly support the transformation of food’s role in health care at the local and statewide levels in alignment with our mission. Our collaborative efforts will result in better health for all Vermonters.

White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities

Bi-State’s Food Access and Health Care (FAHC) Network was recognized in early 2024 for its commitment to end hunger and build healthy communities through a new White House initiative. This Network is focused on improving the lives of Vermonters by bridging food access and health care programs.

In response to this acknowledgment, Tess Stack Kuenning, Bi-State’s President and CEO, expressed her gratitude. “I am honored that Bi-State’s Vermont food access work is recognized through this partnership,” she remarked. “This recognition is a testament to the collective effort needed to address such pressing challenges.”

Bi-State’s food access work brings together key partners in Vermont’s rural communities with the aim of improving the health outcomes of those who live in the communities. Kristen Bigelow-Talbert, Network Director of Bi-State’s Food Access and Health Care Network, expressed “I am grateful to be part of this crucial movement towards ending hunger and fostering healthier communities”.

By joining this initiative, Bi-State’s Food Access and Health Care Network is aligning itself with a network of leaders committed to effecting meaningful change of social risk factors. Through collaborative action and innovative approaches, Bi-State’s Food Access and Health Care Network is driving progress towards a future where access to nutritious food is no longer a barrier for Vermonters.

In March 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced the White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities. The Challenge was a nationwide call-to-action to stakeholders across all of society to make bold commitments to advance President Biden’s goal to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030.
The Challenge built on the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health hosted by President Biden in September 2022 where the President released a National Strategy, and announced over $8 billion of external commitments to achieve his bold goal.

Mission, Vision, Strategic Purpose, and Priority Areas

Mission

The VT FAHC Network partners strive to make food and access to a healthy diet a fully integrated component of the entire spectrum of life and health for all Vermonters. This includes the continuum from prevention to treatment.

Vision

All Vermonters have ready access to the appropriate diet to achieve and maintain good health.

Strategic Purpose

The VT FAHC Network works collaboratively to identify strategic initiatives to implement our mission – going beyond special projects and pilots to sustained, fully integrated, far-reaching programs that will become foundational to our health care system. Our Network is currently focused on building capacity to develop and implement policies, secure project funding, and directly support the transformation of food’s role in health care at the local and statewide levels in alignment with our mission. Our collaborative efforts will result in better health for all Vermonters.

Priority Areas

Information Management

This category includes screening for food insecurity, HIPAA-compliant options for information sharing between health care practices and community based organizations and collecting pilot program evaluation data in a way that can be compared across projects.

Necessary “Dose” of Food

There is high variability in the amount of food provided (and consumed) as part of health-related food interventions, and some clinical evidence indicating different levels of dietary change needed for different health impacts. If programs do not supply enough of a household’s daily diet, they may not have the desired results. At the same time, patient compliance is inversely related to how much they are asked to interrupt their normal eating patterns, especially when affordability is a concern. It is a complicated balancing act and careful program evaluation is needed to resolve it.

Basic Meal Tailoring

Medically Tailored Meal programs are distinguished by an ability to be tailored to a range of conditions. Their level of complexity is several steps removed from Vermont’s current capacity; however, MTMs achieve this complexity by layering components onto a few basic diets (e.g. DASH) suggesting that the first step on this path is within reach.

Transportation Barriers

Unsurprisingly, the intersection of food access and transportation barriers imposes a significant impediment to the success of many programs. Ad hoc approaches to overcome transportation barriers (volunteer drivers and delivery on demand) are often cited as a key reason for burn out and a threat to sustainability of programs. We need a better plan for managing this barrier.

Clinical Benchmarks

As part of our planning process we reviewed current methodologies for evaluating the success of food in health programs in Vermont. These methods often rely on measures of food volume and patient satisfaction with the food, or population health measures. We lack structures to monitor individuals’ health improvements in direct response to food / diet interventions.

Payment Models

Vermont lacks many of the payment structures used by other states to fund food as health programs. Ideally, we could utilize grant-based funding to build successful programs that then transition to secure, sustainable funding streams. This goal is long term, however advocacy for flexible payment models and understanding the outcomes monitoring that will be required to demonstrate efficacy is important today.

FAHC Network Partners

The FAHC Network Advisory Group is comprised of six organizations:

FAHC Network

White House Challenge to End Hunger and Build Healthy Communities