Stephanie M Papes

Stephanie Papes is the Founder & CEO of Boulder, pioneering opioid addiction recovery by delivering medication-based treatment through telehealth. Boulder’s model expands access to long-term support services and addresses the massive scale of the US opioid crisis in a way that traditional systems and brick & mortar clinics cannot.

Prior to founding Boulder, Stephanie helped lead healthcare services and technology investing at Apple Tree Partners, a venture capital fund with $3B under management. While there, Apple Tree invested in a large addiction treatment group with outpatient clinics across New England. Stephanie joined the board and spent time in the clinics, learning two crucial things:

1. Medications like buprenorphine cut all-cause mortality rates by half or more. Yet 80% of Americans who need treatment do not access it - largely because there aren’t addiction specialists who will prescribe it in their communities.

2. Despite the clinic’s success expanding to dozens of sites, it would still reach just a fraction of those who need treatment in the coming years.

Feeling a sense of urgency and injustice help make treatment accessible to everyone who needs it, Stephanie founded Boulder Care in 2017.

Stephanie brought Boulder to market in May 2019 and has raised ~$15 million in funding by leading investors, including First Round Capital and Greycroft, as well as prestigious federal grant awards. Boulder is partnered with insurers like Premera Blue Cross which, in April 2020, announced expansion of Boulder to more than 2 million members. Committed to payment reform in the healthcare industry, Boulder works with insurers on value-based contracts that measure success based on patient outcomes rather than volume of procedures.

Stephanie has been featured in Forbes (30 Under 30 in Healthcare, 2019), Fast Company, TechCrunch, NPR, Business Insider and more. She is a graduate of Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy.

Sub-specialities:
Substance Use Disorders
Opioid addiction, Alcohol Use Disorder
Science and treatment methods for addiction
Telehealth / Telemedicine; digital health
De-stigmatizing addiction (language, misconceptions and perceptual barriers)
US drug policy: current and history
US healthcare system (innovation, care models, public policy, payment reform)
Healthcare issues affecting vulnerable populations
Health inequity: racial and socioeconomic disparities, access barriers, chronic conditions, rural healthcare
Social determinants of health
Medicare/Medicaid