President’s Corner

Dear Friends,

More than 45 years ago, my predecessor, Julius A. Rippel, predicted that our nation’s health system was unsustainable. He said we needed bold new thinking and innovative models to improve population health and fundamentally redesign how care is delivered. Most importantly, he declared that this comprehensive approach was the only path to sustainability.

As many in America increasingly acknowledge the truth of these words, and as visions of alternative futures begin to surface, we are faced with a daunting challenge: how do we get there from here? How do we change a highly complex system characterized by increases in chronic diseases, rising health care costs, entrenched industry structures, over-treatment and lack of data and information? Further, how do we break the cycles of investment and disinvestment and constant rediscovery to leverage the models and lessons that have been shown to work?

Given our history and our mission, the Rippel Foundation was compelled to take on this bold challenge. We committed to addressing how the Foundation, now approaching its 60th year, could best adapt to the changes in our experience of cancer and heart disease, the needs of women and the elderly, and the roles of hospitals – all core elements of our mission. We also seeded our own innovation process to determine how a mid-sized private foundation could become a catalyst for transformation in health and health care.

Our approach has evolved, being ever mindful of Julius A.’s challenge for new thinking, as well as his charge that foundations should do what government and the market either can’t or won’t do. It also grew from a theory of change that drives our activities.

As is evident from our homepage, the centerpiece of the Foundation’s activities is ReThink Health, an initiative we seeded in 2007. It began with Don Berwick and Amory Lovins. Over time, ReThink Health has changed and grown to now include Nobel Prize-winner Elinor Ostrom and The Dartmouth Institute’s Elliott Fisher. In on-going gatherings with these and other leaders and change agents, we collectively dare to ask the unasked questions. We explore what health and health care in America should look like. And we challenge ourselves to help create the new thinking and breakthrough initiatives that will make a difference.

Our new website is a way to share our journey. I invite you to learn with us through our emails, trainings, tools, and resources. I also hope you will add your name to our contact list and become a part of our growing community of ReThinkers.

Sincerely,