Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent hospitals notices under make america healthy again, asking them to align food purchases with the administration’s 2025-30 dietary guidelines. The agency tied the effort to continued eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Kennedy said on March 30 that HHS was bringing hospitals in line with good food and described the instructions as “essentially a federal mandate.” He added, “We are going to bring all the hospitals in the country in line with good food.”
CMS Participation Update
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the notice came as a Conditions of Participation update released by CMS. Nixon said the update was issued to ensure hospital patients’ food adheres to the dietary guidelines. He also said HHS commends hospitals that have made commitments to improve their food offerings.
The agency urged the public to report hospitals and nursing homes that serve sugary drinks, nutrition shakes, or meals that do not meet dietary guidelines established last year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Officials said federal funding could be withheld if violations occur, and Medicare and Medicaid together are the largest payers of hospital expenditures.
Calley Means on X
Calley Means, a top Kennedy adviser, posted on X that hospitals serving patients sugary drinks are out of compliance with government standards and are putting their reimbursements in jeopardy. He linked to an HHS webpage with a toll-free number for reporting complaints and warned that serving liquid nutrition products like Ensure could also put hospitals in jeopardy.
Means also wrote, “If you see patients being served sugary drinks, please post information below or let CMS know.” In a separate exchange with an X user, he said, “They need to change or lose reimbursement. Please report them if you see it,” while later posting that Democrats were defending the medical importance of soda and junk food to American patients.
Hospital Authority Debate
Doctors and medical providers said the initiative does not account for patients’ unique dietary needs. Kevin Klatt, a dietitian and research scientist, said, “Most of this is political theater. HHS doesn’t have the power to do much” and “Also, if it’s to the point that you’re trying to control people’s choices, well, you look a little fascist.”
Lawyers and dietitians said it is not clear HHS has the regulatory authority to enforce the threat without going through a formal rulemaking process. That leaves hospitals facing a notice with reimbursement consequences while the legal path for enforcement remains contested by those specialists.
