McLean Hospital partners with Rippl Care to deal with mental health needs of seniors with dementia

To deal with a crisis of unmet mental health needs amongst seniors with dementia and their family caregivers amid a shortage of mental health providers with expertise treating this population, McLean Hospital, a member of Mass General Brigham, has entered into an agreement to supply strategic advisory services and skilled education to Rippl Care. Rippl provides specialty dementia care and is pioneering a brand new care model in an effort to expand access to prime quality, wraparound behavioral healthcare for seniors, their families and caregivers. Under McLean’s agreement with Rippl Care, leaders within the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry will provide advisory and consultative services to Rippl teams and plan to co-develop knowledgeable educational and training program, the Rippl Academy. Mass General Brigham Ventures is a founding investor in Rippl Care.

As a part of the agreement, McLean will provide these services to Rippl teams, thereby enhancing Rippl’s ability to deliver skilled education and training for licensed care professionals (doctors, nurse practitioners and social employees) together with community medical examiners about research-informed, evidence-based practices working with seniors with dementia. A goal of such efforts can be to cut back emergency visits and inpatient admissions for mental health crises which are so disruptive for patients and their families.

McLean experts providing advisory services include Ipsit Vahia, MD, interim chief of geriatric psychiatry, Marie Clouqueur, LICSW, social employee and specialist in caregiver support, and Sara Weisenbach, Ph.D., ABPP, chief of neuropsychology .

“It’s unimaginable to overstate the burden that dementia poses on people living with this condition, in addition to their caregivers. Furthermore, most individuals would not have access to the kind of specialized care that dementia requires. The shortage of a trained workforce to support such care is a crisis.” said Vahia. “Providing support to Rippl allows us to scale the expertise of McLean clinicians and expand access to efficient and effective evidence-based care through an revolutionary delivery approach.”

“After we founded Rippl, McLean Hospital was our very first stop. No hospital within the country knows this disease higher and the McLean team’s deep expertise developing latest and revolutionary approaches to psyche-related care is unmatched,” said Kris Engskov, Rippl Co-founder and CEO. “We couldn’t be more enthusiastic about pioneering this latest approach with such a talented group of clinicians.

Vast care gaps for tens of millions of patients and their caregivers

Roughly 6.7 million Americans aged 65 and older currently live with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, a figure expected to double by 2060, in keeping with recent statistics. Last yr, greater than 11 million relations and other unpaid caregivers provided an estimated 18 billion hours of care to individuals with dementia.

Individuals with dementia can experience significant mental health symptoms, including anxiety, depression, delusion and aggression, which may result in difficult behaviors.

“I see firsthand the large toll that behavioral and mental health manifestations of dementia tackle patients and families, and unfortunately lots of them don’t get support until the issue is advanced, in the event that they receive support in any respect,” said Clouqueur. “There are interventions that not only help to alleviate the numerous distress experienced by those living with dementia and their families, but in addition help them live meaningful lives regardless of the various challenges. Our work is to empower providers like Rippl to integrate best practices into dementia care.”

​This project aligns closely with McLean’s fundamental mission to offer compassionate expert mental health care to communities in great need. Working closely with Rippl to share McLean’s research and clinical expertise in senior mental health provides a novel opportunity to focus on the key gaps that exist in mental health take care of this underserved population.”

Scott L. Rauch, M.D., president and psychiatrist in chief, McLean Hospital