COACH: Addressing Food Insecurity

Collaborative Opportunities to Advance Community Health (COACH) is an initiative sponsored by The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania that brings together hospital/health system, public health, and community partners to address community health needs in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Collaborative Opportunities to Advance Community Health

Facilitated by the Health Care Improvement Foundation since its September 2015 launch, COACH has provided a structure for participants to explore collaborative implementation strategies as hospitals/health systems complete the current round of community health needs assessments and implementation plans mandated by the Affordable Care Act.

COACH participants have been working toward consensus on shared strategy(ies) for collective adoption and inclusion in implementation plans that were submitted during November 2016.

Through a structured process, COACH participants have prioritized strategies addressing healthy food access and access to care/services in order to promote chronic disease prevention and management. 

Children whose families participate in COACH receive health food and access to health care

Food Insecurity

The direct connection between food security and proper nutrition, and better health is well-documented. Yet, in Pennsylvania, more than one in ten Pennsylvanians are food insecure.

In Pennsylvania,

  • Food insecurity is reduced (by one-fifth overall, and one-third for children) when families get SNAP
  • Compared to low-income adults without SNAP, those who participate in SNAP have 25 percent less in health care expenditures
  • Low-income adults who struggle with chronic disease and participate in SNAP have even greater reductions in health care expenditures 

 

HAP Contacts

For more information, contact Robert Shipp III, PhD, BSN, RN, NEA-BC, vice president, workforce & clinical affairs. Media inquiries should be directed to Kim Yakowski, manager, media relations.

 


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