CHICAGO, March 30, 2026 — The Trump Administration alerted hospitals Monday morning that the institutions will need to ensure their food purchasing policies are in line with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans if the facilities want to continue receiving Medicaid and Medicare funding.
“We are going to bring every hospital in the country in line,” Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, said at a press conference announcing the move. “This is going to help them with their procurement companies, the fact that it's now essentially a federal mandate.”
He suggested that the new federal policy will be welcomed by the healthcare foodservices since administrators and regulators will no longer be able to object to the purchase of healthful fare because of price.
“It’s something the hospitals wanted, it’s something that they needed, and we want to do this very, very quickly,” said Kennedy.
But the move will no doubt remain controversial because of what the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) set out as a healthy diet. Health and nutritional experts have voiced their disagreement with many of the guidelines, such as the recommendation that Americans eat more red meat and temper their aversion to saturated fats.
Less controversial has been the guidelines’ call for Americans to consume less ultra-processed foods (UPFs). But the federal government has yet to define exactly what UPFs are. That clarification is expected to come from HHS in April .
Also due next month is the release of the proposed regulations for what schools participating in the National School Lunch Program will be required to serve to qualify for reimbursements.
Released in January, the new DGAs reversed what had been several longstanding principles of sound nutrition, such as forgoing whole-fat milk for skim or a 2%-fat version. The new guidelines reflect the often-controversial tenets of the Make America Healthy Again initiative, which the Trump Administration has adopted as its public health policy.
Kennedy said during a press conference in Florida this afternoon that Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, had sent an alert about the DRA requirement to every hospital in the nation at 11 a.m. EDT.
HHS had yet to reveal how it would enforce the new purchasing mandate and other details of the policy adjustment.