SONNET Projects: Nau

Food for Life Healthy Savings Initiative
 

Project team

Claudia Nau, PhD, Principal Investigator, KP Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation

Project summary

Approximately 11% of U.S. households are food insecure, which is defined as not having enough food (or money to buy more food) during at least some months in the prior year.  

Healthy foods like fruits and vegetables are more expensive than unhealthy, highly processed foods, and food insecurity has been linked to higher rates of obesity, obesity-related illnesses, and eating disorders. Good nutrition is not just important for staying healthy, but also for managing chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.  

The National Kaiser Permanente “Food for Life” initiative has partnered with “Healthy Savings” to provide a discount card to more than 200,000 KP members who signed up for Kaiser Permanente coverage via state-sponsored health care exchanges. Most major grocery chains are participating in the Healthy Savings program. The Healthy Savings card provides food discounts at the time of check-out and displays these discounts on an app. The goal is to reduce food insecurity and improve access to healthy foods.  

Dr. Nau has been leading the evaluation of the Food for Life Healthy Savings initiative. With her team, she has been assessing the use of the app over time, cost savings, and barriers to use.  

Food for Life Fruit and Vegetable Rx 
 

Project team

Claudia Nau, PhD, Principal Investigator, KP Southern California Department of Research & Evaluation

Project summary

Dr. Nau Claudia is working with KP’s National Office of Community Health and researchers from Tufts University to explore and design an intervention for a fruit and vegetable prescription trial at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. 

Contact SONNET

Email us at sonnet@kp.org to learn more about our work or request a consultation.