DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Catherine Macpherson, a registered dietitian and chief nutrition officer at Mom’s Meals NourishCare, the nation’s leading provider of home-delivered meals for older adults and people with chronic conditions, will be co-presenting, “Reducing Readmissions & Engaging Members with a Home-Delivered Meals Program,” at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute & Expo 2018 in San Diego on June 21, 2018. Macpherson’s co-presenter will be Jeffrey T. King, RN, MBA and vice president of health care services at Molina HealthCare of Florida.
The annual conference brings together industry experts, policymakers, academics, and thought leaders to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s healthcare system.
In their joint presentation, Macpherson and King will highlight how nutritionally complete and condition appropriate meals – packaged for home delivery – can help patients transition home from a hospital stay and support their recovery, and importantly, reduce instances of readmission. The speakers will demonstrate the impact of nutrition on care transitions by presenting a recent data analysis that shows members who received home-delivered meals experienced fewer 30-day readmissions compared to state and regional data.
“We are seeing a greater emphasis and understanding related to the effect of social determinants on patient access and overall health,” said Macpherson. “Food is one of the major areas through which we can drive change and improve outcomes. Our data is showing that by providing nutritionally balanced meals tailored to patient-specific conditions such as diabetes, and engaging patients with a variety of tasty meal options in a home delivered setting, we are achieving better management of chronic conditions and less hospitalization.”
Molina Healthcare of Florida was early in believing that supporting social determinants of health can have a big impact on health outcomes. They’ve been supporting members with post-discharge meals since 2014. “Our program has demonstrated success in reducing hospital readmissions for our members, and also helped us to engage members in other important aspects of post-discharge care, such as completing follow-up visits with providers,” said King.
“This is the perfect audience of healthcare industry leaders and influencers to receive this message,” continued Macpherson. “Managed care organizations are constantly evolving and looking for ways to offer benefits that can help improve patient health and lower costs. Therefore, we are excited to offer a program that can help achieve those goals.”
Macpherson is a leader in healthcare innovation. She is the head of Mom’s Meals NourishCare’s Product Strategy & Development team, and is the company’s nutrition lead. Previously, she served as vice president of medication adherence and immunizations at Walgreens, led healthcare product strategy at WebMD, and managed health and wellness programs for Ceridian, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Institute for Cancer Research. She earned her masters of science degree in nutrition from the University of Minnesota and her bachelors of arts degree from the University of Michigan.
King oversees the medical management, case management and long-term care operations for all of Molina Healthcare of Florida’s plans product lines including Medicare Dual Special Needs Plan, Market Place, Medicaid and Long-Term Care. Molina of Florida provides managed healthcare services to over 750,000 members in 37 counties throughout the state of Florida. He holds a bachelors in science of nursing from Howard University and is a licensed registered nurse. Additionally, he holds a masters of business administration with a concentration in healthcare administration from Barry University.
If you are attending AHIP’s Institute & Expo 2018, you can join Macpherson and King to discuss this topic on Thursday, June 21, at 5:20 pm in the Presentation Theater at the San Diego Convention Center.
About Mom’s Meals NourishCare
Mom’s Meals NourishCare is a leading nationwide provider of refrigerated, home-delivered prepared meals for long term services and supports chronic care, post-discharge care and self-pay individuals. Menus support major health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and more. For more information, visit www.MomsMeals.com.
