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New Venture Rippl Makes Waves in Senior Mental Healthcare Space
Describing the current mental healthcare landscape for seniors as “broken,” a former executive for Aegis Living and Starbucks is leading a new provider into the space.
Rippl, a new mental health company focused on caring for seniors, announced its launch on Wednesday, backed by $32 million in seed funding led by ARCH Venture Partners and General Catalyst, along with investments by GV, F-Prime Capital, and Mass General Brigham Ventures.
"Seniors with mental health conditions—especially dementia and other neurocognitive challenges—are overlooked and under cared for, with little access to high-quality, real-time, practical care,” co-founder and CEO Kris Engskov told Behavioral Healthcare Executive in an email. “This has gone on for far too long and it is one of the most urgent and complex challenges in health care today.
“Leveraging a value-based payor approach, disruptive tech, and a relentless focus on our clinicians, we’re going to break this cycle and do a lot of good for a deserving population.”
National Institute of Mental Health data indicates the total national cost of healthcare for dementia patients, including those with Alzheimer disease, is projected to be $321 billion in 2022, Rippl noted in a news release. Meanwhile, seniors with neurocognitive mental health conditions and their families are 3.5 times as likely to visit an emergency room, 3 times more likely to be admitted to a hospital, and cost Medicare 2.5 time more than seniors without cognitive impairment.
Rippl’s care model to be offered by health plans will expand access to wraparound mental healthcare services for seniors with dementia and other neurocognitive disorders, their families, and caregivers. The company plans to offer its clients 24/7 access to services “on the phone, online, or in their living rooms.”
Rippl plans to open a Washington state-based clinical support center to launch pilot networks in 2 regions, beginning in Seattle. The company said in its news release that it is collaborating with clinical teaching institutions to also develop a Rippl Academy to train its existing staff and draw more clinicians into the field.
The new company is led by Engskov, who co-founded Rippl after a nearly 3-year stint as president of Aegis Living that ended in October 2021. Prior to his time with Aegis, Engskov spent 16 years with Starbucks in a variety of executive roles, including executive vice president of business integration, and executive vice president/president of the company’s US retail business line.
Engskov is joined on the Rippl leadership team by:
- Co-Founder and Vice President of Strategy and Innovation Inca Dieterich, PhD
- Chief Medical Officer Aaron Greenstein, MD
- Chief People Officer Jesse Schlueter
- Vice President of Clinical Operations Karrie Austin, RN
- Vice President of Finance Jim Terry
Reference
Photo credit: Rippl
