Pilot program connects patients to nutritious food through their local pharmacy.

A September 22, 2026, USA Today article, "Why pharmacies are prescribing food as medicine," prominently features the NACDS Foundation's research pilot on Food is Medicine.

The article notes, "One new research project hopes to pave more ready pathways to healthy food consumption - even for residents in small towns and rural areas - by building partnerships with a key infrastructure already widely available across the nation: local pharmacies."

The pilot is conducted in partnership with the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.

Pharmacists at participating locations screen patients with diabetes and hypertension who also experience nutrition insecurity, then write them Nutrition Prescriptions that provide funds for nutritious food. Patients also receive nutrition education.

The project aims to improve diet quality as well as disease-specific measures such as A1c and blood pressure.