What's happening
This bill adds Medicaid coverage for medically tailored meals and nutrition therapy for individuals with chronic conditions in New York, if federally funded.
Why it matters
Expands Medicaid to cover not just generic nutrition counseling, but also the delivery of medically tailored meals. this means individuals with chronic conditions who struggle with daily activities could get food specifically designed for their health needs, potentially improving disease outcomes and reducing hospitalizations.
Ties coverage to federal funding. , so the program would only be available if the federal government agrees to help pay for it—this could impact how widely and quickly the benefit is implemented, and highlights the importance of federal-state cooperation in Medicaid innovations.
Requires these services to be ordered by licensed health care professionals and delivered by registered dietitian nutritionists. , ensuring that the benefit is clinically targeted and evidence-based, rather than a broad food assistance program—this may help prevent misuse and maximize health impacts for vulnerable populations.
Mandates early regulatory action from the Department of Health. , signaling an intent to move quickly should federal funds become available and potentially positioning New York as a leader in integrating food-as-medicine approaches into Medicaid.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Cover Medically Tailored Meals
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to health
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
9863
IN ASSEMBLY
February 14, 2018
Introduced by M. of A. GOTTFRIED -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to medical assistance coverage for medically tailored meals and medical nutrition therapy for the purpose of disease management
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 365-a of the social services law is amended by adding a new paragraph (ff) to read as follows:
(ff) medically tailored meals and medical nutrition therapy. As used in this paragraph, "medically tailored meals and medical nutrition therapy" means nutritional assessment, nutritional therapy, and nutritional counseling provided by a registered dietician nutritionist for the purpose of disease management, including the provision of any food indicated by the nutritional assessment and the delivery of such food, ordered by a health care professional acting within his or her lawful scope of practice under title eight of the education law, where medically indicated for an individual who is limited in his or her activities of daily living by one or more chronic conditions; and provided that there is federal financial participation in the costs of services provided under this paragraph.
§ 2. This act shall take effect one hundred eighty days after it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the commissioner of health shall adopt regulations and take other actions reasonably necessary to implement this act on that date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14666-01-8
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.