Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Food as Medicine: Elevance Health & NACHC Integrate Nutrition in Care

Read MoreHide Full Article

Key Takeaways

  • Elevance Health and NACHC integrate nutrition into primary care through Food as Medicine.
  • Community Health Centers will train teams to connect Medicaid patients with tailored nutrition support.
  • The program aims to build a scalable Nutrition Center of Excellence for long-term health outcomes.

Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV - Free Report) is taking a bold step in the delivery of primary care by integrating Food as Medicine into its care model. By partnering with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), the company aims to integrate nutrition into treatment plans, along with prescriptions and diagnostics. This program expands ELV’s existing regional Nourished Well initiative. Elevance Health Foundation will also support NACHC with a six-month Food as Medicine grant.

Through this collaboration, primary care teams at Community Health Centers (CHCs) will be trained to effectively screen and connect Medicaid patients with personalized nutrition support. This includes medically tailored meals, coaching and lifestyle interventions.

As CHC is serving around 34 million Americans, this program aims to reduce food and nutrition insecurities while enhancing chronic disease management and preventive health outcomes. By incorporating these services within the care processes, ELV and NACHC are breaking down barriers to access and establishing a sustainable model for achieving long-term health outcomes.

Looking ahead, ELV, NACHC and CHCs aim to serve as a scalable national model that promotes food-based clinical care by developing a Nutrition Center of Excellence. If a nutrition-focused strategy turns out to be effective, it might open the door to wider acceptance across the U.S. healthcare system. ELV’s individual medical membership rose 5.2% year over year in the second quarter of 2025 to 1.3 million. We expect the metric to rise 0.7% year over year in 2025.

How Are Competitors Faring?

Some of ELV’s competitors in the medical space are Centene Corporation (CNC - Free Report) and The Cigna Group (CI - Free Report) .

Centene’s high-acuity Medicaid membership grew 6.2% year over year in the second quarter of 2025. Its total membership was around 28 million as of June 30, 2025. Centene’s total revenues rose 22.4% year over year in second-quarter 2025.

Cigna reported 3.2% year-over-year growth in international health customers in the second quarter of 2025. Its total medical customers were around 18 million as of June 30, 2025. Cigna’s total revenues rose 11% year over year in the second quarter of 2025.

Elevance Health’s Price Performance, Valuation & Estimates

Shares of ELV have lost 16.1% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s decline of 1%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, Elevance Health trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62, down from the industry average of 15.08. ELV has a Value Score of A at present.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Elevance Health’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $30.59 per share, implying a 7.4% decline from the year-ago period.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Cigna Group (CI) - free report >>

Centene Corporation (CNC) - free report >>

Elevance Health, Inc. (ELV) - free report >>

Published in