Instacart Launches Instacart Health

Grocery delivery service Instacart has unveiled Instacart Health, a new multi-pronged initiative designed to give customers better access to nutritious foods.

Instacart Health was launched at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, and features new products, strategic partnerships, cutting-edge research, and policy advocacy commitments. The plan is outlined by three key pillars, according to the company: Nutrition Security, Health Made Easy, and Food as Medicine.

"Instacart has become a staple in millions of households, which puts us at the heart of the relationship that people have with food, and therefore, their health. We have a responsibility to use the power of our platform, products and partnerships to expand access to nutritious food and improve health outcomes,” said Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. “At Instacart, we're building the technologies that can help many organizations - from healthcare providers, insurers, nonprofits, employers, and health experts - give more people access to fresh, nutritious foods with dignity, speed, and convenience.”

With the launch of Instacart Health, Instacart has announced several new products, partnerships and commitments:

Bolstering Nutrition Incentives & Food Prescriptions with Fresh Funds

Fresh Funds is a new product that enables any organization, including nonprofits, insurance companies and insurers, and employers, to give people funds to buy nutritious food from grocery retailers on the Instacart App. With Fresh Funds, organizations will be able to dictate and limit spending on certain food categories, like produce, to incentivize healthy habits and give people access to healthy foods that may otherwise be too expensive. 

Instacart plans to launch a Fresh Funds pilot with Partnership for a Healthier America, a leading nonprofit working to transform the food landscape in pursuit of health equity. The pilot will start in Indianapolis, Ind., with the goal of expanding nationwide in 2023.

Enhancing Collaborative Care with New Care Carts

Instacart also announced a new product called Care Carts, designed to give healthcare providers and caregivers the ability to order groceries on behalf of someone else. Whether it be a healthcare provider delivering groceries and medical supplies to patients post-hospital discharge or clinicians delivering groceries for a patient's prescribed meal plan, Care Carts is a new way to send groceries. Several organizations are already using this new feature.