February 20, 2025
Kaiser Permanente joins Food Is Medicine Colorado coalition
As an inaugural member, Kaiser Permanente will help lead health care’s contribution to the coalition.
Kaiser Permanente joins new Food Is Medicine Colorado coalition.
Kaiser Permanente in Colorado will be an inaugural member of the newly announced Food Is Medicine Colorado coalition.
Project Angel Heart and Feeding Colorado launched the coalition at the 2024 Colorado Food Is Medicine Summit. The event was co-sponsored by Kaiser Permanente.
FIMCO will be a statewide coalition of community-based organizations, state agencies, hospitals, and health care organizations. FIMCO will promote recognition of healthy food as a cost-effective way to manage health conditions in Colorado. It will also integrate Food Is Medicine into mainstream health care.
"Kaiser Permanente has been a leader in supporting Food Is Medicine efforts in Colorado and nationally,” said Kate Johnston, chief operating officer of Project Angel Heart. “We look forward to the valuable health care expertise that they will bring to this coalition."
“As the idea of Food Is Medicine has grown, these programs have clearly shown their clinical benefits,” said Jeff Krawcek, MD, president and executive medical director of Kaiser Permanente in Colorado. “If we can improve people’s health or prevent them from getting sick in the first place, that is a major win for health care in Colorado.”
As an inaugural member of FIMCO, Kaiser Permanente is the first health care organization to join.
“We are excited to lead Colorado’s health care community in this space and gather more industry support for Food Is Medicine,” said Mike Ramseier, president of Kaiser Permanente in Colorado. “It’s part of our mission to improve the health of the communities we serve, and FIMCO is designed to make a coordinated impact.”
Food Is Medicine has the potential to reduce hospital readmissions and decrease individual treatment costs for conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Those shifts could save the American health care system nearly $14 billion per year, according to a study from the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Nationally, Kaiser Permanente recently announced its Food Is Medicine Center of Excellence.
The center will shape the future of Food Is Medicine across health care. It will expand food insecurity screening for Kaiser Permanente members, expand training for health professionals, and create new approaches to Food Is Medicine interventions.
It will also serve as a research hub. And the center will expand partnerships with local nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses to improve nutrition security for Kaiser Permanente members and our communities.
Kaiser Permanente is also a founding member of the Food is Medicine Network of Excellence alongside the Tufts University Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School. The network will establish best practices for implementing, evaluating, and integrating food-based interventions into health care systems and communities.
