Press Release

Vitality and Tangelo Launch Partnership to Deliver Food as Medicine Benefits

Issued by Vitality

Jan. 9, 2024

CHICAGO and BIRMINGHAM, MI – To offer increased access and encourage greater consumption of nutritious foods among its members, Vitality Group, a global health and wellbeing company specializing in behavior change, is partnering with Tangelo to administer Food as Medicine at scale. Tangelo’s food prescription benefit platform makes customizable and clinically driven Food as Medicine programs available for Vitality clients to help their populations achieve better health results.

This collaboration with Tangelo offers Vitality members easy access to high-quality, affordable, convenient, and condition-tailored nutritious food options. In keeping with the science behind Food as Medicine, the program prescribes medically tailored foods, personalized for each individual to prevent, manage, and treat chronic disease. Members can benefit from easy access to fresh produce, mixed grocery boxes, and ready-to-eat meals and meal kits to support their health needs and goals.

“The majority of deaths in the United States are attributed to chronic diseases, many of which could be positively impacted with better nutrition,” said Maia Surmava, CEO, Vitality US. “Through this partnership we are removing barriers to healthy eating for our members by offering easy access, education and motivation to move the needle on food and nutrition security – and ultimately improve health.”

The partnership will also integrate the capabilities of Diet ID, a digital health platform that Tangelo acquired in September 2023. Diet ID is a cutting-edge technology that enables rapid and accurate dietary assessments, prescriptions, behavior change, and coaching. By combining Diet ID with Tangelo’s food delivery and Vitality’s incentive system, the partnership will offer a unique and effective way to measure and improve diet quality and health outcomes, at scale.

To redeem their healthy food benefits through Tangelo, Vitality members simply complete a Diet ID assessment to get their food prescribed, make their food selections from a curated list of condition-tailored and culturally relevant food options, enter a delivery address, and check out using Vitality Bucks or direct payment. Tangelo’s food deliveries prioritize local farms and suppliers and are always delivered directly to members’ doorsteps.

“Food, when done right, is the pinnacle of medicine, benefiting both human and planetary health,” said Dr. David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACLM, Chief Medical Officer for Tangelo and Founder of Diet ID. “Unlike drugs and surgery, its positive impacts extend to entire communities. Food as Medicine is our future and with the combined power of Tangelo, Diet ID, and Vitality, we’re elevating this vision. This milestone is inspiring for us all.”

Solving Holistically for Food Insecurity – January 31 webinar

Reinforcing the importance of collaboration between payers, nutrition technology companies and wellbeing engagement organizations to remove obstacles to access to healthy food and create lasting behavior change, Dr. Katz will join Christopher Joseph, MSW, MPH, Executive Director for EngageWell IPA, and Tanya Little, Chief Commercial Officer for Vitality, for an AHIP webinar. To learn more and register for the event being held on January 31 at 1:00 pm ET: https://www.ahip.org/webinars/solving-holistically-for-food-insecurity

About Tangelo

Tangelo is a marketplace platform for enabling the prescription of food, supply chain management, and outcomes measurement needed to scale food-as-medicine. We provide organizations a streamlined experience for running Food as Medicine programs that offer members a choice of personalized medically tailored foods, provide equity across food suppliers, and standardize the measurement of diet quality as a vital sign, enabling risk-based, scalable coverage of food prescriptions and outcomes measurement that prove return on investment. Our platform has been used by large public sector entities, hospital systems, health care plans, non-profits and more to support and strengthen communities across the country. For more information, visit jointangelo.com.

About Vitality

Guided by a core purpose of making people healthier, Vitality is the leader in improving health to unlock outcomes that matter. By blending industry-leading smart tech, data, AI, incentives, and behavioral science, we inspire healthy changes in individuals and organizations. As one of the largest health and wellbeing companies in the world, Vitality brings a dynamic and diverse perspective through successful partnerships with the most forward-thinking insurers and employers. More than 35 million people in 40 markets globally engage in the Vitality program. For more information, visit vitalitygroup.com and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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