Employees at Cleveland Clinic are enjoying a new benefit now that the hospital has partnered with Nestlé USA to provide employees with free frozen meals via Instacart to encourage them to stay on course with an employer health plan-sponsored weight management program.
The 12-week pilot program provides participants with "Instacart Health Fresh Funds," virtual stipends employees can use to pay for 10 frozen meals every two weeks for three months. Delivery is also covered by the program.
In a May 22 press release, Cleveland Clinic said this is a first-of-its-kind pilot program that combines no-cost healthy meals and virtual certified weight management coaching. Additionally, participating employees will be taught how to fit these frozen meals into their lifestyle and eating program.
"Following the 12-week pilot, Cleveland Clinic and Nestle will assess results and jointly explore ways to expand this frozen meal/coaching program to not only patients and caregivers within Cleveland Clinic, but to employers and consumers," the release said.
"With this pilot program, we are hoping to determine if offering delivered, pre-portioned meals along with e-coaching is more effective than e-coaching alone in helping our employees meet their weight goals," Robert Saper, MD, chair of wellness and preventive medicine at Cleveland Clinic, said.