Evaluation of Medicaid Food & Nutrition Support Program for Pregnant Women

The University of Texas System (UT)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pregnancy Related; Nutrition, Healthy; Financial Gift

Treatments: Other: Regular benefits; Behavioral: Nurture program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06368739

STUDY00005622

Details and patient eligibility

About

With funding from the Episcopal Health Foundation, the researchers will conduct a secondary data analysis to evaluate the impact of Driscoll Health Plan's Nurture program for pregnant members using claims data.

Full description

This record describes a quality improvement program (called "Nurture") piloted by Driscoll Health Plan, which included nutrition education and food purchase support offered to a subset of pregnant women aged 30 years and above and covered by the Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) plan in their "STAR" and "CHIP" programs during October 2022 and July 2023.

Factor Health lab at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin will do a secondary data analysis to evaluate the impact of DHP's program.

Driscoll Health Plan (DHP) is a non-profit, community-based health insurance plan that provides coverage to South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley communities. Their insurance products include STAR Medicaid, STAR Kids, CHIP, and CHIP Perinatal.

With input from Factor Health lab at Dell Medical School, DHP introduced the Nurture program for its members as a quality improvement initiative, designed to expand members' access to nutrition education and food purchase support to improve health and pregnancy outcomes.

Nurture included up to 8 packages mailed every four weeks until the member reaches the end of pregnancy. Each package included USD $40 in the form of gift cards to a large-chain grocery store, a healthy eating information sheet selected from Brighter Bites (https://brighterbites.org/), a set of three recipes, and nutrition-related Frequently Asked Questions during pregnancy (in four out of the eight packages). Members also received two 30-minute nutritional consultations over the phone.

Members had the flexibility to opt out of the program at any time and discontinue receiving packages. Consultations were optional. If they opted out, they continued to receive the DHP benefits as part of their regular coverage.

Enrollment: 224 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 30+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Member of Driscoll Health Plan
• Pregnant
• Aged 30 or older

Exclusion criteria

• Not a member of Driscoll Health Plan
• Not pregnant
• Younger than 30 years of age

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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224 participants in 2 patient groups

Nurture + regular benefits (exposed group)

Experimental group

Description:

1. Monthly packages sent every four weeks until end of pregnancy with maximum of eight packages. Each package includes: US $40 grocery store gift card A healthy eating information sheet selected from Brighter Bites project. (https://brighterbites.org/). A set of three recipes. Nutrition-related Frequently Asked Questions (in four of eight packages). 2. Two 30-minute telephonic nutritional consultations. Designed by a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) who trained a bilingual nutrition specialist to deliver the consultations. Topics revolved around healthy eating during pregnancy, such as food choices, portion sizes, budget-friendly shopping, food safety, and food preparation. No nutrition therapy advice to manage diseases was provided. 3. Regular benefits Includes regular healthcare services offered as part of the health plan coverage with Medicaid/CHIP.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Nurture program

Other: Regular benefits

Regular benefits (comparison group)

Active Comparator group

Description:

Regular benefits Includes regular healthcare services offered as part of the health plan coverage with Medicaid/CHIP.

Treatment:

Other: Regular benefits