The days of enjoying a heaping bowl of jello while stuck in a hospital bed may soon become a thing of the past.

In a new directive to hospitals, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has told hospitals that they need to do a better job of meeting their patients’ nutrition needs and “…to align food service with the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods and adequate protein while limiting ultra-processed foods and added sugars.”

The CMS memo to hospitals offers the following guidelines:

• Limiting ultra-processed food options for patients.
• Elimination of sugar-sweetened beverages unless clinically appropriate in limited scenarios.
• Elimination of refined grains and replacing them with 100% whole grains.
• Prioritizing minimally processed protein sources, including plant-based options.
• Emphasizing vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, seeds, seafood, and healthy fats.
• Ensuring baked, broiled, roasted, stir-fried, or grilled vegetables and proteins – and eliminating deep fried cooking methods.
• Eliminating processed meats and foods high in added sugars, sodium, and artificial additives.
• Ensuring meals contain less than 10 grams of added sugar, unless clinically appropriate.

Learn more about the federal government’s effort to improve hospital food and make it more a part of hospital treatment – and the possible demise of hospital jello – from this HHS news release; the CMS memo to hospitals titled “Hospital Nutrition Service Obligations in Light of Updated Federal Nutrition Guidelines;” and the Becker’s Hospital Review article “CMS signals tougher expectations for hospital nutrition services: 5 notes.”