Hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid are obligated to meet the nutritional needs of their patients and limit serving ultraprocessed foods and sugary beverages to chronically ill patients, CMS says. A special alert on Monday said.
“It makes no sense that 90% of pediatric wards in America, treating children with prediabetes and obesity, have full-sugar soda machines,” Kelly Means, senior adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said at a news conference in Miami on Monday. “(It) doesn’t make sense that hospitals are serving sugary drinks and inflammatory processed foods to their patients, 90% of whom are living with chronic conditions… This memo from CMS is saying that hospitals treating patients with chronic diseases should not serve sugary drinks, should not serve refined carbohydrates, and should not serve ultraprocessed foods.”
“For too long, we have treated the food served in hospitals as an afterthought,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA, said at the press conference. “The food is bland, it’s poorly prepared, and it lacks the nutrients from nature that you actually need to be completely healthy.” CMS’s alert memo addresses this issue, he said, in that it requires menus and diets to meet patients’ specific nutritional needs.
The alert says new dietary guidelines issued by the Trump administration in January “place greater emphasis on diet quality – including limiting ultraprocessed foods, sugar-sweetened beverages, refined carbohydrates and added sugars, while prioritizing whole and minimally processed foods.” “These updates reflect the latest federal nutrition policy and are encouraged to be used to inform patient nutrition services and related hospital protocols.”
Although the memo forces hospitals to make these changes, it’s still something they wanted to do, said Kennedy, who was also present at the press conference. “We’ve talked to them. They need the stimulus, and the fact that it’s essentially a federal mandate now…that will help them with their purchasing companies. And we want to do it very, very quickly.”
The memorandum specifies that hospital leadership and the nutrition department should also evaluate the following:
- Eliminating refined grains and replacing them with 100% whole grains
- Prioritizing minimally processed protein sources, including plant-based options
- Emphasizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood, and healthy fats
- ensuring vegetables and proteins are cooked, roasted, roasted, fried, or grilled – and eliminating deep-fried cooking methods
- Eliminating processed meats and foods rich in added sugars, sodium and artificial additives
- Making sure meals contain less than 10 grams of added sugar, unless medically appropriate
“Prioritizing real foods that heal you will allow patient menus to be adjusted dramatically,” Oz said. He cited a menu redesign implemented by Tampa General Hospital through a partnership with Jeffrey Zakarian, a professional chef and winner of the “Next Iron Chef” competition. Menu offerings include Things like grilled snapper and falafel pitaAnd patients are served meals when it is convenient for them, rather than at specified meal times.
“The total cost of products served to patients is not changing meaningfully,” Oz said. “That’s about a 5% increase in cost, a small rounding error. And that’s because food is no longer being thrown away” because patients like it, which reduces waste.
Most of the food at Tampa General is locally sourced, an idea also emphasized at the press conference. Kennedy announced that Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami “has signed an agreement to bring locally produced food to this hospital – 5% per year, growing 1% every year, this will benefit local farmers and provide nutrient-rich food to the children in this hospital.”
“As soon as you pick an orange or apple, they start losing vitamin C and other nutrients,” Kennedy said. “The faster you can get it to the consumer, the more nutrient-rich it will be. And so it’s a very exciting day.”
