When Americans enter a hospital, they expect to receive care that helps them heal. They trust their doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to provide the best possible treatments and give them the greatest chance of recovery.
Yet too often, the food our nation’s hospitals serve contradicts that mission.
Patients recovering from surgery, living with chronic diseases or managing serious medical conditions may be served hospital meals featuring highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates, added sugars and other ingredients that do little to support their recovery.
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It’s a contradiction that should concern every American. And it’s one we’re determined to change.
Today, we announce that 250 hospitals across the United States have joined the Make Hospital Food Healthier Pledge, a nationwide initiative the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) launched to improve the nutritional quality of meals that hospitals serve to patients and staff.
These commitments reflect a growing recognition among America’s healthcare leaders that food is an essential part of good medicine, and hospitals should demonstrate that through the meals they serve.
Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the Make America Healthy Again movement is fundamentally rethinking the role of nutrition in American healthcare.
But transforming American healthcare requires more than changing federal policies; it requires changing the environments in which Americans receive care.
Hospitals can help change those environments. They care for our most vulnerable citizens, educate millions of patients and families, and earn their communities’ trust.
Nutrition is central to each of these responsibilities.
For patients recovering from surgery, fighting infections or managing chronic illnesses, proper nutrition can support wound healing, preserve muscle mass, strengthen immune function and improve recovery. Malnutrition, by contrast, correlates with longer hospital stays, more complications and greater healthcare costs.
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Hospitals also have an opportunity to teach patients habits that can improve their health long after discharge.
Consider a patient who enters the hospital for complications of Type 2 diabetes. That patient may receive excellent medical treatment and counseling about the importance of healthy eating. But if the meals the hospital serves during their stay contradict that advice, what message are we sending?
A hospital meal should reinforce the care plan, not undermine it.
There are approximately 6,100 hospitals in the United States, collectively accounting for more than 35 million hospital admissions each year. The broader American healthcare foodservice market represents nearly $20 billion in annual economic activity.
That’s extraordinary purchasing power.
Hospitals are among the largest customers of major foodservice management companies, food distributors and manufacturers. Their purchasing decisions influence which products suppliers develop, how suppliers price those products and what becomes available to other institutions.
Imagine what could happen if hospitals across America began sending a consistent message to their suppliers: We want more real food. We want healthier proteins, fruits, vegetables and minimally processed ingredients. We want fewer products with added sugars and unnecessary additives.
The food industry would have a powerful incentive to respond.
As demand grows, suppliers can expand production, improve distribution networks and invest in healthier product offerings. Larger purchasing volumes and more predictable demand can also create economies of scale, potentially reducing costs and making nutritious food more affordable.
Other institutions could also benefit.
The same foodservice companies supplying hospitals often serve schools, universities, workplaces and other institutions. Improvements in their product offerings and supply chains could help make healthier food more accessible throughout American society.
Hospitals could improve their patients’ health and help transform the nation’s food system.
With more than 250 hospitals now participating, we’re beginning to demonstrate what healthcare institutions can accomplish together. We recognize that hospitals face real operational challenges. Hospital supply chains are complex, and patients have diverse medical and nutritional needs.
That’s why the Make Hospital Food Healthier Pledge is voluntary and collaborative.
We are not interested in Washington dictating hospital menus or second-guessing the clinical judgment of physicians and registered dietitians. Hospitals must retain the flexibility to meet patients’ individual nutritional requirements, including those who need specialized therapeutic diets or medical nutrition support.
Our goal is to get hospitals across the country to improve the nutritional quality of their meals together.
We are grateful for the partnership of the American Hospital Association and the many healthcare systems that have joined this effort. Their leadership demonstrates that change does not always require new mandates, complicated regulations or additional administrative burdens. Sometimes, it begins with a shared commitment.
Hospitals should be places where every aspect of the patient experience supports health and healing. The food hospitals serve on a patient’s tray should support that goal.
Two hundred and fifty hospitals have already committed to serving healthier food. Now, we’re calling on the rest of America’s hospitals to join them.
Mehmet Oz, M.D., M.B.A., is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.