Food as Medicine on a Tight Budget: Can Assisted Living Afford It?

Most senior living communities say dining matters. But in assisted living, the food often looks nothing like what independent living residents get, even when it comes out of the same kitchen. Can a better dining program actually keep residents longer? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Melissa Brown, COO of Gravity Consulting and host of Senior Living Executive Strategy, talks with Matt Henney of Metz Culinary Management about treating food as part of the care plan instead of a line item. In this episode: • How to move toward food as medicine on a constrained budget, starting with something as simple as the snack offerings • Why the next generation of assisted living residents expects different flavors than the generation before them • How a stronger dining program supports retention, length of stay, and the conversation with adult children • Chef to Home, Metz's medically tailored meal program for patients going home after a hospital or rehab stay, and what they're seeing so far with cardiac readmissions • Stealth nutrition: building more nutritional value into the familiar dishes residents already want to eat Part 2 covers the European pantry menu Gravity and Metz are building together for Gravity's own assisted living projects. Senior Living Executive Strategy is brought to you by Gravity Consulting, an outcomes-focused consulting firm for senior living, skilled nursing, and home health organizations. If your organization has an operational, clinical, reimbursement, or growth issue that needs to be solved, start the conversation at https://gravityconsulting.com