- Average monthly health-care costs of MANNA clients fell 62 percent for three consecutive months after beginning service, for a drop of almost $30,000.
- Monthly inpatient hospital costs of clients were 30 percent lower over the six months following initiation of services than in the six months prior to starting MANNA.
- Even when MANNA clients needed hospitalization, their improved nutritional status resulted in reducing the average number of monthly visits to half that of the comparison group, and their length of stay for inpatient visits was 37 percent shorter.
- The costs of inpatient hospitalizations of MANNA clients were $87,000 lower than those of the control group.
- MANNA clients were over 20 percent more likely to be released from the hospital to their homes rather than to long-term-care or health-care facilities.
- MANNA clients living with HIV/AIDS cost the managed care organization an average of $20,000 less per month, and costs fell over 80 percent in the first three months.
The cost-saving evidence produced by this study was powerful enough to garner the right attention. Soon MANNA had the satisfaction of seeing its results published in a peer-reviewed journal, a fact that has opened many doors for MANNA among health-care providers. MANNA is presenting the data at two national meetings this fall. The full study will be presented at the Food & Nutrition Conference in Houston. The HIV/AIDS data will be presented as part of a panel at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting in Boston, along with other research on food security and impact on health from Columbia University and Harvard.
MANNA has also been able to engage leaders in academic health systems in the Philadelphia area in talks about engaging in future studies.
But the real advantage of MANNA can be seen in that most elusive of all elements—patient health and satisfaction. Over 30 percent of current MANNA clients surveyed reported feeling strong enough to return to work, and the majority said that even after the program, they continued to eat healthier, showing a long-term beneficial effect on client lifestyles. Last year, 97 percent of our recertified clients reported a better understanding of healthy foods, and 99 percent reported improved health overall.
“Our clients report feeling better and stronger when they finish with our program,” explains Daugherty. As Lamont Bennett, a MANNA client and renal patient says, “After MANNA I wasn’t just 100 percent better. I felt like me again. I was Lamont again.”
Results like these spur Daugherty and her staff to work hard to be heard in Harrisburg . . . and Trenton. “People expect routine reimbursement for pills and surgery,” she explains “but this, the most basic of things—nourishing food—continues to be ignored by our representatives and remains unreimbursed. The irony is that we could save the medical system so much if they would invest just a little in nourishment.” Advocating for reimbursement, however, is a long and winding road. “You expect reimbursement because it’s the right thing to do, because it’s the smart thing to do. That doesn’t always resonate politically.”
MANNA is a small non-profit with a small budget. But maybe, just maybe, our legislators could learn a lesson from us in the smart way to save money . . . and lives.
Keywords: litigation, access to justice, patient, hospital, health, health care, health-care costs, food, nourishment, reimbursement, nutrition, non-profit, disease, diet, HIV, cancer, renal disease, meal delivery
Lydia Cipriani is director of development and communications at MANNA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.