Radford University part of collaboration receiving USDA grant for produce prescription program

A regional collaboration that includes Radford University’s Department of Public Health and Healthcare Leadership (PHHL) is receiving nearly $480,000 in federal funding to encourage fruit and vegetable consumption among Medicaid patients for better food security and health outcomes.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded $479,918 for the Southwest Virginia Produce Prescription Program (SWPRx), which also includes the Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP), Carilion Clinic, Virginia Fresh Match and Feeding Southwest Virginia. SWPRx was one of only 11 nationwide projects selected by the USDA for produce prescription program funding.

Over the next three years, produce prescriptions will be available to eligible Medicaid patients receiving care in Roanoke, Floyd, Franklin County and Radford. Healthcare providers will be able to refer patients with high blood pressure, prediabetes or diabetes to the program through Carilion’s Community Health and Outreach Department.

Enrolled patients will participate in the program for six months, attending nutrition classes where they can redeem weekly prescriptions for free fruits and vegetables on-site through Feeding Southwest Virginia or at participating Virginia Fresh Match outlets, including area farmers markets, mobile markets and local grocers.

“This USDA grant is a transformative opportunity to address some of the most pressing health challenges in our region,” said Beth Polk, family and community medicine physician at Carilion. “By connecting patients to fresh, nutritious foods and empowering them with education, we aim to improve chronic disease outcomes and enhance food security. This program demonstrates the power of community partnerships in creating meaningful, sustainable health improvements.”

Originally piloted in 2015 in response to findings from Carilion Clinic’s Community Health Assessments, this project builds on over 10 years of experience implementing small-scale produce prescription programs in underserved Roanoke City communities. Evaluation and research efforts, led by the PHHL department, will allow the SWPRx project team to improve the program’s impact, sustainability and scalability over time. Research associated with the program will be used to further address health disparities and improve patient health outcomes by integrating healthcare with community foods systems in a flexible and sustainable way.

The PHHL department is serving as the evaluation team for the grant. Sallie Beth Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor and program director of the PHHL programs at Radford University, will work closely with Kim Baskette, Ph.D., director of the Radford University Carilion Health Sciences graduate program and an associate professor in the PHHL programs. Johnson says she brings expertise in qualitative and mixed methods implementation research to the project, while Baskette brings experience in quantitative methods and evaluation. The pair will also use some of the specified grant funds to employ a graduate assistant to support the evaluation activities.

Johnson has been involved with LEAP since 2015. She was part of the original evaluation team for the pilot Fresh Foods Rx produce prescription program at Carilion Clinic Roanoke-Salem and Southeast Family Medicine clinics.

“I have been an active volunteer with the LEAP community gardens,” Johnson says, “and Kim has been a volunteer with Feeding Southwest Virginia. We supported the evaluation and data management plan for the application.”

Johnson and Baskette will be directly involved with the process evaluation, which involves collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data throughout the grant cycle. Each participant cohort will be enrolled in the SWPRx program for six months, and participant data will be collected multiple times to measure program impact. Focus groups with participants will be conducted during the program, and the feedback will be used for program revisions and improvement.

“We will also be doing surveys and interviews with the providers and produce market vendors utilizing a mixed-methods approach,” Johnson says. “This will help to inform program sustainability and scalability.”

Johnson says that she thinks this grant is unique because it brings together community and health systems to improve processes for offering produce prescription programs at a large scale and measures the impact of the produce prescription grant. The collection of healthcare utilization data will support the case for health leaders, policymakers and insurance groups to include coverage of produce prescriptions as a part of chronic disease management.

“By integrating community food systems into the SWPRx project, we also support local farmers and community-based food retailers and connect participants to programs like food pantries and Virginia Fresh Match outlets that provide ongoing and affordable access to produce,” said Maureen McNamara Best, executive director at LEAP and project director for SWPRx.

These funds will support efforts across the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP).