Healthcare Partnerships
Open Hand partners with managed care and healthcare organizations to integrate medically tailored nutrition into care transitions and chronic disease management.
Our partners have benefitted from lower healthcare costs, improved quality metrics, and better health management and quality of life for their members. As a trusted community-based organization, Open Hand integrates seamlessly into care delivery without any significant administrative burden.
Ways to Partner
Managed Long-Term Care
Open Hand partners with Managed Care Organizations to support individuals with chronic illnesses, disabilities, and complex health needs who wish to remain safely in their homes and communities. Through medically tailored meals and nutrition support, we help plans address food insecurity, improve quality of life, and promote independence while supporting long-term care goals.
Medicare Advantage
Medically Tailored Meals can serve as a valuable supplemental benefit for Medicare Advantage members during critical periods of recovery and disease management. Open Hand provides condition-specific meals and nutrition counseling following hospitalization, surgery, or for individuals managing chronic health conditions, helping improve outcomes, support adherence to care plans, and reduce avoidable utilization.
Georgia Medicaid
As Georgia continues to explore Food is Medicine strategies, Medically Tailored Meals may be supported through several Medicaid pathways, including:
- In Lieu of Services (ILS): Alternative services that are clinically appropriate and cost-effective substitutes for traditional covered benefits.
- Value-Based Payment (VBP) Programs: Initiatives designed to improve health outcomes and lower the total cost of care through innovative interventions and provider incentives.
- Section 1115 Demonstration Waivers: Programs that allow states to test new approaches to delivering coordinated care, addressing social drivers of health, and improving outcomes for Medicaid members.
Open Hand is well positioned to support partners participating in these models.
Hospitals, Healthcare Systems, and Outpatient Care Centers
Health systems are increasingly focused on improving outcomes, reducing avoidable utilization, addressing social determinants of health, and succeeding in value-based care environments. Open Hand partners with hospitals, health systems, physician groups, and ambulatory care organizations to provide medically tailored meals and nutrition support that strengthen care transitions, improve patient experience, and support quality initiatives. Our programs can help organizations advance key performance goals related to CMS STAR Ratings, HEDIS measures, CAHPS scores, NCQA standards, and population health outcomes.
Client Success: Meet Mr. Davis
Mr. Davis relies solely on the meals provided by Open Hand for his daily nutrition. Living with hypertension and diabetes, the meals are tailored to his medical needs. Like many older adults, Mr. Davis navigates the challenges of aging and maintaining a special diet, making the role of our medically tailored meal delivery service even more crucial.
"The meals that I receive on a weekly basis from Open Hand provide a primary source of nutrition for me. The meals are helpful, especially because I am unable to prepare my own meals.”
Open Hand clients manage a number of chronic conditions, such as:
Why Partner with Open Hand?
Experienced
For more than 36 years, Open Hand has served communities across 35 counties with medically appropriate nutrition. Today, the organization provides more than 1.75 million meals annually—over 5,000 each day—to 11,000 clients, bringing its lifetime impact to more than 35 million meals served. Supported by 120 employees, 10 registered and licensed dietitians, and more than 10,000 volunteers each year, Open Hand offers more than 400 client-centered meal options designed to meet a wide range of medical and nutritional needs.
Knowledge
Open Hand has knowledge of the health industry and expertise with health ratings. We help our health partners achieve their goals of lowering care costs, improving health outcomes, extending the continuum of care, and increasing patient satisfaction. Ultimately, we can help health plans and providers improve their HEDIS scores and STAR ratings.
Capacity to Scale
Our new, expanded kitchen facilities and robust operations allow us to serve patients throughout Georgia. We cook thousands of medically tailored and delicious meals every weekday. Everything we serve is prepared with real, high quality ingredients. All of our meals are blast-chilled and frozen right from the kitchen, then delivered to your members once or twice a week.
Client Success: Meet Will
A young successful chef, diagnosed with end-stage congestive heart failure
"It was very important early on for me to keep my sodium intake below 2,000 grams a day. Most people don't have to think about it, but it was a big challenge… last year I was so sick that a meal I thought was reasonably low in sodium put me in the emergency room. So my Open Hand meals were such a blessing. They took all the guesswork out of managing my diet, and not having to worry about shopping or preparing food helped out so much when I wasn’t feeling well."
We are Georgia’s experts in medically tailored meals and nutrition.
Higher Standards:
Unlike other meal delivery services, our meals are specifically designed to meet the nutritional needs of patients experiencing chronic health conditions, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, and cancer.
Accredited & Expert:
Open Hand Atlanta is accredited by the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists (ADCES) to provide quality diabetes self-management and support.
Our experienced RDNs include Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialists (CDCES), Certified Specialists in Gerontological Nutrition (CSG), and RDNs with advanced degrees in nutrition and dietetics. Additionally, Open Hand is a founding member of the Food is Medicine Coalition, an association of nonprofit medically tailored food and nutrition service providers.
Contact Us
If you want to learn more or have any questions, contact Aleta McLean, Senior Director of Client Services and Outcomes Tracking, at amclean@openhandatlanta.org or 404-419-3313.
