More than 250 hospitals nationwide have signed on to the Make Hospital Food Healthier Pledge, a voluntary initiative launched by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to improve the nutritional quality of meals served to patients and staff.
The announcement came in a joint statement from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, who wrote that hospital meals too often contradict the treatment patients are receiving, featuring highly processed foods, refined carbohydrates and added sugars instead of ingredients that support recovery.
“A hospital meal should reinforce the care plan, not undermine it,” Kennedy and Oz wrote.
The pledge is part of the broader Make America Healthy Again push under President Donald Trump, which the two officials describe as an effort to rethink the role of nutrition throughout American healthcare, not just in federal policy but in the physical environments where care is delivered.
No Federal Menu Mandates
Kennedy and Oz were explicit that the program carries no regulatory teeth. “We are not interested in Washington dictating hospital menus or second-guessing the clinical judgment of physicians and registered dietitians,” they wrote, adding that hospitals must retain flexibility to meet patients’ individual needs, including those requiring specialized therapeutic diets or medical nutrition support.
The American Hospital Association partnered with HHS and CMS on the effort. Kennedy and Oz credited participating healthcare systems with showing that “change does not always require new mandates, complicated regulations or additional administrative burdens.”
The Numbers Behind the Push
The scale of the opportunity is considerable. There are roughly 6,100 hospitals in the United States, accounting for more than 35 million admissions annually, and the American healthcare foodservice market represents nearly $20 billion in annual economic activity, according to the officials.
Kennedy and Oz argue that hospitals, as major customers of foodservice management companies, distributors and manufacturers, have significant purchasing power to influence what suppliers produce and price — and that a consistent demand for real food, healthier proteins, and minimally processed ingredients could ripple outward to other institutions these same suppliers serve, including schools, universities and workplaces.
They cited the example of a patient hospitalized for complications of Type 2 diabetes who receives sound medical advice about nutrition, only to be served meals that contradict it during their stay.
Kennedy and Oz said the pledge is just the beginning. “Two hundred and fifty hospitals have already committed to serving healthier food. Now, we’re calling on the rest of America’s hospitals to join them,” they wrote.
