Healthy Hospital Food Environment: Policy & Programs in Practice

Abstract

This invited presentation highlights the state of weight at Vidant Health, a health care system serving 29 counties in eastern North Carolina and its innovative Health Food Environment program. A policy, effective in 2012, made healthy food the norm not the exception in all the food venues on the hospital campuses. A calorie based definition of "healthy" was used since the strategy is one to address the obesity epidemic among the employees and visitors to the hospitals. The policy also provides for price leveraging healthy items to make them more affordable.