The news: Instacart and Unite Us are partnering to help payers, providers, and public agencies run food-as-medicine programs at scale. Unite Us identifies eligible people, distributes grocery stipends, and tracks use through its platform, while Instacart handles redemption of the stipend at the grocery stores available on its app and website.

Why it matters: Food-as-medicine programs are gaining momentum as evidence proving that they lower healthcare costs grows alongside policy support and medical training.

Recent research has linked programs with lower healthcare use and costs. Medically tailored meals were associated with 31% fewer hospitalizations, 20% fewer emergency room visits, and $3,433 lower total healthcare costs in a Massachusetts Medicaid study published in June. Research in the field is also growing: The American Heart Association (AHA) identified 57 studies published from July 2025 through June 2026, up 68% YoY.

States are finding ways to integrate food-as-medicine into healthcare coverage. Sixteen states have approved or are considering Medicaid waivers supporting food-as-medicine services, per the September AHA report. Federal policymakers also increased food-as-medicine funding by $24 million in the 2026 spending bill, even as broader cuts to Medicaid and nutrition programs create uncertainty around future funding.

Food as medicine is also making its way into medical training. More than 60 medical, residency, and nursing programs are training clinicians to use food as medicine in patient care, per an April New York Times report. Some 73 medical schools committed to offer 40 hours of nutrition education or its equivalent as part of a Trump administration agreement beginning in fall 2026.

Implications for health systems and payers: Even as policymakers consider ways to include food-as-medicine programs in healthcare, funding and coverage remain barriers to scaling them. For instance, meal benefits are offered by only 57% of Medicare plans in 2026, down from 65% in 2025, per KFF. Medically tailored meals are also facing Medicaid budget cuts under the Trump administration.

That puts more pressure on programs to show that their benefits are being used and delivering results. Models like Unite Us and Instacart’s could help plans manage limited budgets because they pay only for the portion of grocery stipends members actually use, rather than the total amount allocated. Tracking utilization and health outcomes could also help plans measure those results.