Project Angel Heart

Chronically ill patients have a strong need for public health services, including nutrition services, to aid in disease management and improve health outcomes. Evidence suggests that adequate nutrition in chronically ill patients has far-reaching implications on health status and health care costs for those individuals.
Project Angel Heart prepares and delivers medically tailored meals to Coloradans living with life-threatening illnesses. Each year, Project Angel Heart prepares and delivers nearly 500,000 nutritious meals to 3,000 individuals living with cancer, HIV/AIDS, kidney/heart/lung disease, and other illnesses. This program serves mostly individuals over the age of 60 and those living below the federal poverty level.

This program is a non-profit organization that relies on individuals for the majority of their funding. Additional funds come from foundations, corporations, and government grants.

Project Angel Heart improves health and well-being for people with life-threatening illnesses by preparing and delivering medically tailored meals and promoting the power of food as medicine.

Survey data from Project Angel Heart clients show that this program has a positive impact on clients. Of clients surveyed in 2018: 82% report less stress, 69% report improved adherence to health care plans, 72% report improved quality of life, and 72% report improved ability to afford basic needs.

Project Angel Heart conducted a retrospective analysis of nonprofit Project Angel Heart
meal delivery using medical claims data from the Colorado All-Payer Claims Database to assess differences in health care cost. Participants (intervention group) received 5 to 10 free, medically tailored, delivered meals per week. This intervention group (n=708) was compared to a matched control group (individuals in the claims database that were not involved in Project Angel heart). All participants of this study were covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
The study found that all-cause 30-day readmissions across diseases dropped 13% during intervention. Additionally, on average, this study showed a 24% reduction in total medical costs for those in the intervention group with CHF ($736 less per-member per-month), COPD ($416 less per-member per-month), and diabetes ($453 less per-member per-month), a significant decline.
Total annual medical cost reduction for Project Angel Heart clients with CHF, COPD, and diabetes alone (~1,740 people) is estimated at $4.2 million, not including costs of meals.