• California: Since Instacart launched Instacart Health in September 2022, the company has partnered with healthcare organizations to provide food-as-medicine programs, according to Sarah Mastrorocco, general manager for Instacart Health. As costs for food rise, grocery allowances and prescribed meal programs are becoming more popular among employer-sponsored health coverage plans and Medicare Advantage plans. According to Mastrorocco, "Instacart wants to be the infrastructure for food as medicine." Instacart has partnered with Mount Sinai Solutions to offer $110 in grocery stipends as a benefit for post-operative and post-partum patients who are insured by an employer or union customer of Mount Sinai Solutions. (Perna, Modern Healthcare, 11/10)
• Illinois: The AMA on Monday passed a resolution saying it will "urge all payers to ensure coverage parity for evidence-based treatment of obesity, including FDA-approved medications without exclusions or additional carveouts." Currently, Medicare is legally prohibited from covering weight loss treatments, and many insurers have considered the treatments cosmetic rather than medical. In addition, the rise of GLP-1 treatments like Wegovy and Zepbound have also raised concerns regarding costs, as they have list prices of more than $12,000 annually. However, doctors argue restrictions across the industry are preventing patients who need these medications from accessing them. "We have good drugs on the market. Patients deserve them. But today only rich people can get them," said Ethan Lazarus, past president of the Obesity Medicine Association. (Trang/Chen, STAT, 11/13)
•  New York: AstraZeneca on Friday said it plans to prioritize the U.S. market for additional doses of Beyfortus, its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, as a surge of RSV cases is currently outpacing supply. AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said that CDC has been asking for more Beyfortus and added that the drugmaker has seen a surge in demand "everywhere." (Wingrove/Fick, Reuters, 11/10)

Recent breakthroughs in obesity management medications have put a spotlight on the weight management field. Here's how industry leaders can use this turning point to address three key missteps in our current approach and advance health outcomes for higher weight patients.