February 17, 2026
Local Food and Groceries play a role in Accountable Food is Medicine through the Kansas Rural Health Transformation Program
Continued from earlier this month…
When Jan connects with her Extension Community Health Worker, an initial screening is completed to understand her food habits and health needs. The CHW sets Jan up with an appointment at the rural health clinic for later that week. The CHW leaves for the day and tells Jan she’ll call to remind her about her upcoming appointment.
Without revealing personal health information, the Extension CHW has let the referring extension agent know that the clinic CHW is now in the referral and assistance loop. Later that week, during her clinic appointment, Jan receives a referral for a weekly Produce Prescription (Rx) as part of her care plan and a list of upcoming healthy cooking classes in her area.
The CHW shares that there are three fulfillment locations in her county - where she can pick up her Produce Rx - including her local grocery store. Jan already shops there weekly so she plans to pick up her Produce Rx during her weekly shopping trip at the grocery store.
Her Produce Rx includes 10-15 pounds of produce and recipe cards for utilizing the included items. Much of the produce is sourced from local Kansas producers, including leafy greens from a farm in her community. When Jan picks up her Produce Rx, she also visits with a dietician who is teaching a healthy cooking class at the store with items included in that week’s Produce Rx.
Fast forward six months: Jan has another visit with her clinician, where key health metrics are measured and progress is documented, but there’s still room to improve. The clinic suggests adding a Medically Tailored Grocery (MTG) bundle to her monthly routine, which includes grains, proteins and dairy, also available from the same pickup locations. Once again, Jan receives a list of upcoming cooking class opportunities for maximizing her MTG bundle and minimizing food waste.
One year down the road and Jan has made impressive strides on her physical and mental health all because K-State Extension stepped in to fill gaps and connect Jan to existing food and other resources. And the local food economy is stronger for it. The community farmers market is booming and local product in the grocery store is plentiful.
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This is the vision for what an Accountable Food is Medicine program could look like over the next five years.
The Extension CHW framework, highlighted in the February 3 Tuesday Letter, will provide the connective tissue to direct rural Kansans to the newly launched Accountable Food is Medicine program through Kansas’ Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).
Extension Community Food Systems team will ensure local producers and rural food infrastructure are utilized to galvanize Kansas’ Accountable Food is Medicine (A-FIM) program.
Through the Rural Health Transformation Program, K-State Extension has proposed hiring four food systems specialists and six dietitians.
- The food systems specialists can educate, train and onboard fulfillment partners, and support local producers to scale up and supply the A-FIM program.
- The dietitians can work with fulfillment partners to ensure A-FIM interventions are tailored to address existing health conditions (heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, etc.) and provide nutrition education supports like healthy cooking classes.
This project will rely on evidence-based Food is Medicine interventions to improve the health of rural Kansans.
These interventions are depicted in the Food is Medicine pyramid from Tufts University, which highlights the various types of Food is Medicine strategies that can be utilized to improve health outcomes.
Here are some resources to learn more about FIM:
- Tufts Food is Medicine Framework.
- Sunflower Foundation’s Food Is Medicine Overview.
- MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) White House Report.
And we won’t be doing this work alone. K-State Extension’s Community Food Systems team will work with Extension CHW and dietician networks, the newly launched Institute for Community Health and Wellbeing, among many other campus and external partners like The Sunflower Foundation and Hunger-Free KS to meaningfully engage in all aspects of Kansas’ Accountable Food is Medicine program within the Rural Health Transformation Program.
Information about the Community Food Systems program is coming this spring. Until that time, please let me know if you have questions: Rial Carver, rtcarver@ksu.edu