Nearly 25% of American adults are food insecure, according to the Urban Institute. Employers have a responsibility to change this, one industry expert declared.

“Evidence shows that food insecurity impacts productivity. … If you have employees in a company — no matter what industry you’re in — you’re a health company,” said Jay Bhatt, managing director of Deloitte Services and managing director of the Center for Health Solutions and Health Equity Institute. “You have to think like a health company in the sense that your employees’ physical and mental health has an impact on their ability to show up together as a team.”

Bhatt made these comments last week during a panel at the MedCity INVEST conference in Chicago. His co-panelists were Nebeyou Abebe, senior vice president of social determinants of health at Highmark Health; Richard Bennett, CEO of Epicured; and Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, founder of Step One Foods. Jasmi Shah, managing director of Cigna Ventures, moderated the session.

Bhatt said employers getting started in the food as medicine movement — in which healthy foods are used to prevent and treat disease — need to begin by examining their benefits design.

“How are you communicating the benefits? How are you incentivizing the benefits?” he said. “You think about interrogating your data and looking inside at your own organization. How many of your employees have an unmet need for food insecurity?”

It’s also important to examine which employees are using the company’s benefits as there are often disparities, he added.

“For example, wellness benefits are disproportionately used by those who may not need them as much as others,” Bhatt said. “So there’s also this notion that one size does not fit all. Where is the support for various segments of your employee population?”

Employers need to make sure their communication is culturally sensitive and “reflective” of the “various needs and backgrounds” of employees as well, he stated.

Bhatt’s comments track with another industry expert’s. Dr. Bipin Mistry, chief medical officer of healthcare navigation company Alight, previously told MedCity that employers have a responsibility to support the Food as Medicine movement. He added that personalization is key when treating food insecurity.

“What motivates one person may not motivate the other person,” Mistry said. “We have to try and understand how we meet employees where they are at and help them create a personalized journey that matters to them.”

Bhatt said the Deloitte Health Equity Institute is working to support employers through the Health Equity in the Workforce initiative, which it recently launched in partnership with the American Heart Association and the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation. The initiative is providing tools to help employers improve health equity in the workplace.

Deloitte also recently put out a report that examined the current environment surrounding the food as medicine movement. It revealed that shopping stress is high due to a concern over rising food prices. However, 55% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for healthy foods, it also showed.

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