This morning virtual medicine company MeMD announced that it added men’s and women’s health services to its suite of products.

The company's tool now provides services that cater to specific sexual health needs for both genders including erectile dysfunction concerns for men and birth control needs for women. The service will also address skin concerns and hair loss. 

Patients first take a digital assessment and request. They can request the gender of their doctor and then be connected to a provider. The virtual visits typically last around 15 minutes, and clinicians can e-prescribe medications. 

MeMD, which has a number of other specialty areas including psychiatry and urgent care, is sold to health plans, business, universities and other organizations. The new services are also available to individual patients. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Sexual health issues are fairly common. In fact, 5% of men aged 40 years have complete erectile dysfunction. That jumps to about 15% at age 70, according to the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics Authority.  

Women are also impacted by sexual disorders including low desire, arousal and pain, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“Women and men often are too embarrassed to seek care, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sexual health, but delaying care can make matters much worse down the line,” Dr. Nicholas Lorenzo, MeMD chief medical officer, said in a statement. “Erectile dysfunction, for example, often signals an underlying condition like heart disease or diabetes. Mental health concerns like depression, anxiety and stress may also cause [erectile dysfunction]. With MeMD, members who are reluctant to seek in-person care can engage an experienced physician virtually from the privacy of their home.”

THE LARGER TREND 

This isn’t the only virtual care platform looking to address men’s and women’s health. Ro and Hims are online mail-order health companies that uses remote consultations to prescribe men’s cosmetic and sexual health products. 

Both are very well supported. Hims & Hers for instance landed $100 million in funding, and Ro scored $88 million in funding earlier this year, and prior to this added a new platform Hers to address female health needs in 2018.