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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – ARLINGTON, Va. and SAN DIEGO, Feb. 25, 2016 — Meals on Wheels America has been awarded a grant from the Gary and Mary West Foundation to conduct a retrospective review of the demographic and associated healthcare information of Meals on Wheels recipients to gain insight on the program’s health benefits to Medicare recipients.
Through its grant, Meals on Wheels America is commissioning researchers at the Brown UniversityCenter for Gerontology and Healthcare Research to leverage data from local Meals on Wheels programs with Medicare health claims information to study the health impacts of receiving home-delivered meals compared to seniors who are non-Meals on Wheels recipients. Called More Than a Meal Phase 2 – Medicare Claims Analysis Study, this project builds on the More Than a Meal pilot study released in March of 2015 and for which Brown University also led the research.
“We hope this research will reinforce the value of nutrition and the importance of Meals on Wheels services to vulnerable seniors,” said Ellie Hollander, President and CEO of Meals on Wheels America. “Ultimately, we hope to show that the Meals on Wheels delivery system – the nutritious meals, along with the daily social contact and routine safety check – has considerable impact on the health and well-being of seniors.”
Findings from this project may signal whether any differences in healthcare utilization can be attributed to the different meal delivery modalities as compared to a matched population of Medicare beneficiaries /non-Meals on Wheels recipients, and will be important information for decisions made at the federal, state and local levels about the availability of nutrition services.
“Homebound seniors depend on organizations like Meals on Wheels to live. Studying the health impacts from delivering these meals is essential to expanding the reach of these services,” said Shelley Lyford, President and CEO of the Gary and Mary West Foundation. “Improving the quality and coordination of care for our nation’s older adults through innovative community-and home-based models is critical to helping our seniors age successfully.”
For more information, visit www.mealsonwheelsamerica.org/
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