As we wrap up 2024, we focus on a topic that has transcended the emergency food assistance network over the past decade; Food is Medicine and Healthcare Partnerships. On April 9th, 2024, Ohio’s Medicaid managed care organizations (MCO) announced the launch of a collaborative initiative designed to build healthier communities and reduce inequities throughout the state of Ohio. This collaboration stems from the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) Next Generation of Medicaid Managed Care program, to focus on the individual rather than on the business of managed care. We sat down with Angela Weaver, Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Ohio Association of Health Plans, and Taylor Major-Dame, Food Access and Workforce Development Coordinator at Hocking Athens Perry Community Action (HAPCAP) to discuss their recent partnership on the HAPCAP for Health Market, located in Logan, Ohio. The Ohio Association of Health Plans recently made a community reinvestment to the HAPCAP for Health Market, to support choice and healthy eating in Southeast Ohio. Appalachian communities often suffer from food insecurity, lack of transportation, and lack of food access at astoundingly high rates. This episode will explore the depths and reasoning behind this partnership, and the goals of this community reinvestment from the Ohio Association of Health Plans, in addition to a discussion on some of the underlying social determinants of health (SDOH) facing neighbors across the state of Ohio.  
 
References:  
Learn more about the Partnership between the Ohio Association of Health Plans and HAPCAP: HAPCAP for Health Market, funded in part through Ohio’s Medicaid Managed Care Organizations Community Reinvestment Fund  
Other services through HAPCAP  

Southeast Ohio Foodbank 


Transportation Services 


Career Services and Workforce Development  

If you are unable to pick up food for your household, you may assign a proxy. What is a proxy shopper? For instructions on how to assign a proxy or any other questions, contact Southeast Ohio Foodbank at (740) 385-6813 ext. 2207.  
To learn more about the Food is Medicine Programs offered at all 12 of Ohio’s Feeding America member foodbanks, visit ohiofoodbanks.org/hungerandhealth/ 
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Episode: https://just-a-bite.castos.com/episodes/prescriptions-for-progress-food-health-and-healing-appalachia

Podcast: https://ohiofoodbanks.org/justabite