Pilot Study Exploring the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Impact of Medically Tailored Meals on Post-Discharge Recovery in Patients With Heart Failure

HF-MTM Pilot: Pilot Study Exploring the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Impact of Medically Tailored Meals on Post-Discharge Recovery in Patients With Heart Failure

The goal of this interventional pilot study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and impact of medically tailored meals (MTM) on post-discharge recovery in patients with heart failure for Penn Medicine patients in Philadelphia and Lancaster through two pilots.

Pilot 1: Will enroll 30 eligible Penn Medicine patients to receive 4 weeks of medically tailored meals (MTMs) directly to their door. Patients will be given the opportunity to choose to receive 7/14/21 meals from the MTM provider for the duration of their participation in the 4 week pilot.

Pilot 1 participants will be asked to complete a baseline survey, and end of study survey, and an end of study semi-structured interview.

Pilot 2: Will expand upon the learnings from Pilot 1 and be a larger scale longer Food is Medicine (FIM) intervention with patients receiving 8 weeks of MTM deliveries directly to their door. As with Pilot 1, patients will be given the opportunity to choose to receive 7/14/21 meals from the MTM provider for the duration of their participation in the 8 week pilot.

Pilot 2 participants will be asked to complete a baseline survey, a mid-point survey at 4 weeks, and an end of study survey and semi-structured interview.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age ≥ 18 years old
• Have a primary diagnosis of health failure based on ICD code I50* with active hospitalization at time of enrollment
• Must be insured by Medicaid or Medicare or dual eligible
• Ability to read and speak English
• Ability to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Are on hospice care or reside in an acute or skilled nursing facility
• Are undergoing evaluation for advanced HF treatments including heart transplant or ventricular assist devices
• Are unable to complete data collection due to cognitive decline or disability (based on the electronic health record or referring provider assessment)