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Food Bank – Home Delivered Meals

HIV/STD Program

HIV/STD Program

HIV Medical and Support Service Categories

Food Bank – Home Delivered Meals

Service Standard

Food Bank – Home Delivered Meals Service Standard print version

Texas Department of State Health Services, HIV Care Services Group – HIV/STD Program

Subcategories Service Units
Food Bank/Home-Delivered Meals Per visit
Food Pantry/Voucher Visit Without Nutritional Supplements Per visit
Food Pantry/Voucher Visit With Nutritional Supplements Per bottle
Meals – Home-Delivered Per person per meal
Meals – Congregate Per person per meal

Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) Description

Food Bank/Home-Delivered Meals refers to the provision of actual food items, hot meals, or a voucher program to purchase food. This also includes the provision of essential non-food items that are limited to the following:

  • Personal hygiene products;
  • Household cleaning supplies;
  • Water filtration/purification systems in communities where issues of water safety exist.

Program Guidance

Unallowable costs include household appliances, pet foods, and other non-essential products. Programs may fund over-the-counter supplemental nutrition drinks and shakes with or without a provider prescription in food bank settings. Nutritional counseling services and nutritional supplements provided by a licensed dietitian are a core medical service under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program (RWHAP) agencies should fund this under the Medical Nutrition Therapy service category.

Services

This category includes the provision of food, prepared meals, or food vouchers to purchase groceries or prepared meals. This category also includes the provision of fruit, vegetables, dairy, canned meat, staples, and personal care products in a food bank setting.

  • Food bank: The provision of food and personal care items in a food bank setting.
  • On-site or home-delivered meals: The provision of prepared meals or food vouchers for prepared meals, in either a congregate dining setting or delivered to clients at their residence.

Universal Standards

Services providers for Food Bank/Home-Delivered Meals must follow HRSA and DSHS Universal Standards 1-52 and 146-156.

Service Standards and Measures

The following standards and measures are guides to improving healthcare outcomes for people living with HIV throughout the State of Texas within the Ryan White Part B and State Services Program.

Standard Measure

Client Assessment: Clients have documentation of a completed assessment indicating the need for immediate or ongoing food services in the client’s primary record.

1. Percentage of clients assessed for and indicating the need for food resource assistance on initial entry into the Food Bank/Home-Delivered Meal services program.

Dietary Needs: The program must ensure and provide choices of food items that meet individual dietary needs for healthy eating as recommended by Nutrition.gov | USDA.

The choice of food products offered should include consideration of the special nutritional health needs of clients, while incorporating generally accepted nutritional standards, and religious, cultural, and ethnic food preferences as appropriate and available within the region.

2. Percentage of clients with documentation of initial and annual assessment of special dietary, religious, cultural, and ethnic food preferences during the measurement year as applicable to new or ongoing services. (Pilot Measure)

Delivery of Services: The program must ensure documentation of services provided to each client on each encounter with a Food Bank/Home-Delivered Meal service received. Documentation must include the following information at a minimum:

  • Client ID
  • Date of service(s): month, day, and year
  • Type of service(s): 
    • Food pantry (brief description items provided to/selected by client)
    • Hot meal – congregate (a brief description of the type of meal)
    • Hot meal – voucher (a brief description of the type of voucher)
    • Home-delivered meal (a brief description of the type of meal)
    • Grocery gift card (a brief description of the type and amount of gift card with confirmation of the client’s understanding of gift card limitations)

3. Percentage of clients with documentation of service(s) received per encounter during the measurement year: (Pilot Measure)

   a. Client ID

   b. Date of service

   c. Type of service

References:

Division of Metropolitan HIV/AIDS Programs, HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) National Monitoring Standards for RWHAP Part A Recipients. Health Resources and Services Administration, March 2025.

Division of State HIV/AIDS Programs, HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) National Monitoring Standards for RWHAP Part B Recipients. Health Resources and Services Administration, March 2025.

U. S. Department of Agriculture, Nutrition.gov. Nutrition.gov | USDA.

Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. Policy Notice 16-02: Eligible Individuals & Allowable Uses of Funds. Health Resources & Services Administration, October 2018.