Seventh-day Adventist Church works with the Culina Health team to expand access to nutritional care
Digital nutrition company Culina Health announced a new partnership Tuesday aimed at expanding access to insurance-covered nutritional care.
The New Jersey-based startup teams up with Adventist Healthcare, a health system with over 50 care locations in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Culina Health becomes part of the Seventh-day Adventist Medical Physicians Alliance, a clinically integrated network of more than 2,400 providers.
Under this partnership, alliance members and their patients will be able to go directly to the nutritionists at Culina Health, who provide patients with virtual, personalized nutrition consultation.
Many of the startup’s registered dietitians are trained to provide specialized consulting services such as nutritional services for diabetes, menopause, sustainable weight loss and cancer nutrition.
“Good nutrition is key to managing chronic conditions and promotes better overall health. We want our member providers and patients to have access to this integrated component to better health and well-being. The physicals and other providers of the clinically integrated network are excited to have Culina Health as members of the Physician Alliance,” Mary Kim, vice president of population health at Adventist HealthCare, said in a statement.
Seventh-day Adventist doctors can directly mention Culina Health nutritionists in the EHR.
This makes it easier for patients to get timely access to nutritional care, noted Vanessa Rissetto, CEO of Culina Health.
“For patients who are placed in care within 24 hours, this means seamless connection with an individual nutritionist within a week, no waiting list, and includes guidance on insurance coverage, quick and easy registration, and comfort care in a comfortable home that is within the scope of routine health care.”
She noted that only 0.02% of Americans work with dietitians, mainly due to accessibility issues.
She noted that many patients do not think nutrition counseling is affordable for them, so they have never even considered it.
“The possibility of 1:1 with a registered dietitian authorized patient to make daily changes to lead a healthier life,” Rissetto declared.
Rissetto said the partnership with large clinical networks contributed to Culina Health’s mission, bringing awareness that nutrition consultation can be provided to them at any or very little cost through their health plans.
“Partnering with health systems is a big part of that. We have supported many of the practices in the clinical integration network, so by extending our care to the physician alliance members of Adventist Healthcare, we have the opportunity to expand our awareness and services to all 2,400+ service providers into the alliance.
To measure the success of this partnership, Rissetto notes that Culina Health will track metrics such as weight loss, A1C, cholesterol and systolic blood pressure reduction.
She added that for its health system partners, savings in hospitalizations and reduced readmissions will be important indicators by reducing complications.
Photo: fcafotodigital, Getty Images
