Connecting Families to Benefit Programs Through a Standardized Nutrition Screener
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The federally funded Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are key sources of nutrition support for low-income families. WIC and SNAP participation have been associated with improved health outcomes and decreased health care costs. Many eligible families, however, do not receive these benefits, often because they have difficulty navigating these programs’ complex application and enrollment processes. We designed and tested a standardized process for linking families to WIC and SNAP in the pediatric primary care setting using a standardized nutrition screener and subsequent telephone-based resource navigation.