4/15/2024 – Today, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL) and Representative Chellie Pingree (ME-01) sent a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough requesting information about the implementation of produce prescriptions (PRx) at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA).
“The VHA has made important strides to curb the prevalence of food insecurity among Veterans and their families, in large part due to standing up the Food Security Office. Congress has noted this progress and attempted to bolster VHA’s work with additional resources, which would bring the demonstrated benefits of PRx to more patients that meet diagnosis criteria in the VHA clinics. We are pleased to see this request for information from Senator Durbin and Congresswoman Pingree and appreciate their leadership. We look forward to supporting Congress and the VHA in this work to make PRx available to more Veterans across the country,” said Brent Ling, Program Director for the National Produce Prescription Collaborative (NPPC).
Download this policy brief from 2023 to learn more about PRx at the VHA.
The NPPC works to advance PRx as prevention & intervention for diet-related disease and further integrate this effective model into healthcare and food retail systems. The collaborative effort is supported by the intellectual, advocacy, and financial resources of PRx practitioners, health systems, payers, produce retailers, researchers, and issue-based advocacy organizations from across the United States of America who are equity-centered, health-forward, and mission-aligned. NPPC is made up of member-supporter stakeholder organizations and led by a member-appointed steering committee. Learn more at www.nppc.health.
The workgroup that collaborated to draft this document is not necessarily made up of all organizational members, and the contents and positions of this document do not necessarily reflect the views of all its organizational supporters. NPPC encourages interested parties to send questions and feedback to info@nppc.health, and reach out to member organizations directly for their individual positions.
Contact:
Brent Ling
Director of External Affairs, Wholesome Wave
Program Director, NPPC
brent@wholesomewave.org
202.427.4994
