Tim Peck – a serial entrepreneur in the senior services space – has a new venture. What’s specifically of note about this one: It’s being launched within the massive long-term care insurance company Genworth (NYSE: GNW).
The new, unnamed startup is a wholly owned Genworth business that will operate within a “global care solutions” business. The company will build on its existing clinical assessments and caregiver support services.
But more than that, it wants to be a care navigator for seniors in the U.S.
The New York-based startup came out of stealth Tuesday, with Peck unveiling his new venture on LinkedIn. Given that it is launching within a public company that’s nearing its third-quarter earnings period, financial details on the venture are still mostly unknown at this point.
“We’re creating a platform really for our own policyholders, but also other users,” Peck told Home Health Care News. “It’s for those aging and their family members, to find everything that they might need for their long-term care journey. We will leverage the scope, scale, expertise and experience of Genworth to be able to match these users to long-term care providers, who will join a network that can assure quality to our users.”
Initially, the startup will work with Genworth LTC policyholders on this initiative. Eventually, it will also go direct to consumer with its model outside of the Genworth network.
The idea was conceived by Peck, but Genworth was also looking to work on a similar platform. That created a relationship that eventually led to the new venture.
“I don’t have the leverage to build a business from the ground up and ask for quality from anybody,” Peck said. “But Genworth very much has that ability.”
The advantage that the startup immediately has is that Genworth network. Both Peck and Genworth agree that care navigation for U.S. seniors is too difficult, too burdensome and too confusing. As they try to solve that, it has a swath of data from Genworth to find out what the biggest pain points are.
In addition to consumers, the startup will also be working with provider partners across the continuum of care, from home health providers and assisted living organizations, to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and others. The company plans to acknowledge all long-term care providers on its network, but a select group will be providers that have partnered with it and can guarantee a certain level of quality.
“We have partnered and are looking for partners,” Peck said. “We are looking for partners in every category of the long-term care space. And not just providers, but also those dealing with transportation, with food delivery and nutrition, with loneliness and isolation, with grief counseling, etc. Everything you might need will be there through partnerships.”
The platform will eventually be available nationwide, but at first, it will be rolled out in certain markets. Peck could not comment on which markets those will be.
A new long-term care venture
Peck’s reason for launching his new venture comes from a lot of experience in the long-term care space.
His latest venture was Call9, an emergency care startup specifically tailored to skilled nursing facilities. The company raised $34 million before eventually shutting down in 2019 and leading to Curve Health, which Peck still serves on the board of.
Peck also served as the executive portfolio director of health at IDEO, which is a design firm focused on health care innovation.
Though details are still sparse on the startup, the need it is trying to fill in senior care is undoubtedly there. What makes the venture more promising is, again, the ability for the Genworth network to be tapped.
“[The system] really leaves the user out of the center,” Peck said. “It’s unfair, which is a word that I’ve started to circle around. It’s fragmented. It’s dizzying and overwhelming. But this unfairness is something that has driven me to think about how can we make solutions to put more power back in the hands of the caregivers and the aging, and make something less fragmented. Something that empowers these people to be able to find the quality that they need.”
