04/23/26
Rep. Smucker (PA-11) and Rep. Davids (KS-3) introduced H.R. 8355, the Accountable Produce is Medicine Act on April 16th. This bill would require the CMS Innovation Center to test a bundled payment model that provides patients with chronic diseases access to nutrition-focused interventions, including healthy foods, care coordination, and monitoring services. It aims to improve health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by integrating “food is medicine” approaches—such as produce prescriptions and nutrition counseling—into Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP programs.
The model would also prioritize regeneratively-grown produce that originates within 250 miles of the program. Rep. Smucker discussed the importance of produce prescriptions during a recent Ways and Means Committee hearing. The bill also includes a Sense of Congress – a formal, non-binding expression of opinion included with a bill – where the bill’s cosponsors urge CMS to test models that pay for food. With this language, legislators are encouraging CMS to use its authority to pay for food, which strengthens our call for federal insurance programs to cover produce prescriptions as a benefit.
Several member organizations joined NPPC in endorsing the bill, including Kellyn Foundation, International Fresh Produce Association, and Morrissey Market.
Thank you to Reps. Smucker and Davids for their introduction of this bill, which builds on what we already know: prescribing fruits and vegetables at the point of care improves health outcomes and leads to lower healthcare costs. With its focus on regenerative agriculture, this important legislation addresses rising chronic illness in the United States while also strengthening connections to local farms.
Rep. Smucker has been a champion for this work for some time, pushing to modernize Medicare Advantage guidance so that food-based interventions are recognized as “primarily health related” supplemental benefits. We are grateful for his longstanding commitment to integrating healthy food into healthcare for Americans. He also spoke on behalf of produce prescriptions during a recent Ways and Means hearing.
