S. 5267 — Accountable Produce is Medicine Act of 2026

This section expresses the sense of Congress that diet-related chronic diseases drive U.S. health care costs and that evidence-based food-is-medicine interventions, including medically tailored meals, medically tailored groceries, produce prescriptions, and nutrition counseling, can improve health outcomes and lower expenditures. It states that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation should incorporate such interventions into models tested under section 1115A of the Social Security Act.

This section requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to test the Accountable Produce is Medicine Bundled Payment Model beginning no later than 180 days after enactment. The model makes bundled payments under Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP to at least 5 selected programs for a minimum of 5 years to furnish eligible individuals with 1-year periods of screening, personalized assessments, care coordination, telehealth, remote monitoring, lifestyle counseling, and nutrient-dense foods, with no cost sharing and priority for programs supplying fresh produce grown within 250 miles or via regenerative agriculture.