FarmboxRx Introduces Platform for Addressing SDOH Needs

FarmboxRx, a healthy food company, has launched a social needs solutions platform that aims to address health gaps for health plan members, the company announced Tuesday.

Boston-based FarmboxRx contracts with payers (primarily Medicaid and Medicare programs) to deliver produce boxes, cooking kits, educational materials and pantry items to patients’ doors. The new platform, called Drivers Health, can address additional social determinants of health (SDOH) and feed data on members’ needs back to the health plans.

The company’s founder and CEO, Ashley Tyrner-Dolce, gave the example of a health plan member who is diabetic. Through Drivers Health, members are first engaged with a FarmboxRx food box. In addition to food and recipes, the box comes with educational information about other benefits the member may have through their health plan to support their condition.

For instance, the member may need to get a diabetic eye exam, and FarmboxRx may be able to provide them with information about a transportation benefit that’s available to them. The member can then call FarmboxRx to get connected with a transportation provider so they can get to the eye exam. Then, the company can provide data back to the health plan to let them know that the member has a transportation issue.

“It really is customized to every single plan,” Tyrner-Dolce said in an interview. “No one journey is the same. Every plan has different needs for all of their members. … We’re collecting data by listening to the members of what their unique needs are. So the plan can get ahead of that.”

Other examples of needs that FarmboxRx could help members with include pest control, mail-order pharmacy, housing and utilities.

There’s a reason this kind of SDOH support is needed. About 45% of health insurance members have at least one unmet social need and many have more than one, according to recent research from McKinsey.

The idea for Drivers Health and FarmboxRx was born out of Tyrner-Dolce’s own experience.

“Fifteen years ago, I was pregnant with my now 14-year-old daughter,” she said. “I was on Medicaid, I was on food stamps, I was in a rural food desert. … I’ve made the hard decisions: Do I pay for my daughter’s medication for her asthma, or do I pay for my food this month? This is something that doesn’t have to be this way in this country. But we’ve got to be proactive rather than reactive.”

The name Drivers Health originated from the concept of addressing “social drivers of your health” and empowering the member to be in the “driver’s seat” of their own health, she added.

Several other companies also provide healthy food support, including Season Health, NourishedRx and Fay.

Photo: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Images