Though the U.S. is one of the world’s most developed countries, many of its internal systems are decades behind. Considering half of the global population is women, it may be a shocking realization that one of those systems is women’s healthcare. An LA-based company hopes to bring conditions that have historically gone overlooked to the forefront, and it secured a new round of funding to build out its telehealth solution.
Alison Greenberg and Audrey Wu co-founded Ruth Health with the goal of providing evidence-based care to women across every stage of their pregnancy journey. The company secured $2.4 million in seed funding led by Giant Ventures, bringing its total funding raised to $3.1 million. Since launching in October, the platform operates across all 50 states and has come to serve 150 customers, with some outside of the U.S.
The two co-founders originally met as colleagues within the conversational AI space. They later entered the entrepreneurial scene with a speculum tool, a device used for pelvic exams like pap smears, but since this exam is only needed once every two to three years, the two decided to move their focus to a sector where women see their doctor more frequently — during pregnancy.
“Our standard of care for pregnancy was developed in the 1970s so there is a huge issue with us being [here] 50 years later and we’re still practicing the same schedule of care,” Greenberg, Ruth Health’s CEO, told Built In.
After a mother gives birth, typical postnatal care consists of one visit to the doctor six months later, Wu, the company’s COO, mentioned.
Ruth Health’s chief medical officer Dr. Vivian Greenberg has been an OB/GYN for four decades and is also Alison Greenberg’s mother. Being familiar with the women’s health space early on, Alison Greenberg wanted to build a solution that would address the medical issues she grew up hearing about.
“[Dr. Greenberg] didn’t have the system she needed to make sure her patients had care outside the doctor’s office, so that’s why we do what we call interstitial care,” Alison Greenberg said. “It’s about filling the gaps, providing preparation for pregnancy and birth [and] providing recovery after birth. So we really are here to supplement your doctor and make sure that you’re as prepared and then can recover as seamlessly as possible.”
The platform offers self-scheduled virtual sessions led by certified providers that are 30 minutes long — short enough to fit into a mother’s busy life, Alison Greenberg said. One subject these courses cover is pelvic floor training and recovery. When this area is weakened during pregnancy, it can lead to conditions such as incontinence. Ruth Health also offers sessions on C-section recovery and lactation consulting. When a new mother’s baby doesn’t take to breastfeeding, it can lead to painful conditions like mastitis.
Looking to keep expecting women and new parents informed about and prepared for these perinatal matters and more, Ruth Health is dedicating its new funding round to enhancing its solution with new content. The company is working to create a care hub that offers videos, written articles and e-books full of evidence-based information people typically search for surrounding pregnancy. The company strives to make care accessible, so it has lowered its session prices and accepts HSA and FSA insurance plans.
In addition to this, the company plans to offer live classes as its growing customer base scales beyond being able to have one-on-one meetings with every patient. It’s also currently building a new patient portal feature as well as a provider portal that’s coming further down the line. The company is growing its engineering team as well with plans to reach a total headcount of 15 by year’s end as it works to help improve outcomes for women everywhere.
“I think the maternal morbidity rate is kind of ridiculous in our country,” Wu told Built In. “Thankfully, Vice President Harris is actually talking about it right now, but it just pains me to realize that in a developed country, we’re pretty bad. And so we’re very mission-driven. We want to improve the maternal mortality rate … that’s [what] our overall long-term vision and mission is. We’ve got to fix this.”
.jpeg)
