Health IT, Startups

Hula unzips a new way to create a personal sexual health record

A startup working to make sex safer and more informed has changed its name, launched […]

A startup working to make sex safer and more informed has changed its name, launched an app and raised almost $1 millon. Qpid.me is now Hula. Founder and CEO Ramin Bastani said that his company is building a database of STD testing centers around the country. The Hula team is creating a Yelp-type listing for providers and then asking the testing centers to certify their hours and services.

“We have been digging up and verifying testing centers around the country and adding between 150 to 200 new locations a week,” he said. “The alternative is the CDC database that is updated once a year.”

The site’s location finder looks more a travel site than a medical records site, and that’s the whole point. Hula will host these pages for centers and eventually include patient information information forms and welcome videos. Centers can get a “verified” stamp by confirming that their information is up to date.

“We are being open with users, centers not paying for placement just saying that their information is accurate,” Bastani said.

After a month in limbo, the Hula app got approved by the Apple app store in mid-September. The app debuted in the store on Sept. 27 and currently has 42 reviews. The app allows the user to request testing records and then share them with potential partners.

Hula will soon include user reviews of providers, including the ones that don’t provide patient records upon request. Records requests sent from Hula users will ask for records to be provided within five days.

“Providers will start to notice who does and who does not, and the foundations that support them will want to know, too,” he said. “We’ve tried to use the law, we’ve tried to use reason and when neither of those work, we will shame them into doing what is right.”

Bastani said that Hula does not have to be a business associate or a HIPAA covered entity because the patient is requesting the information.

Hula is working with the Los Angeles United School District to talk about promoting the app with students. The district runs many wellness centers and wants to have a page on our locator for the LASD student. It will explain a student’s rights under HIPAA as well as information on how to get medical records.

He said that an ER doctor also saw a need for a comprehensive and current listing of testing centers to help people who come to the ER with concerns about gonorrhea or chalmydia.

Bastani said that he decided to change the name of the company to avoid any suggestion of a dating site.

What’s the Hawaiian connection? At speaking events, Bastani often wears a lei – because his app makes it easier for people to get laid.

Veronica Combs

Veronica is an independent journalist and communications strategist. For more than 10 years, she has covered health and healthcare with a focus on innovation and patient engagement. Most recently she managed strategic partnerships and communications for AIR Louisville, a digital health project focused on asthma. The team recruited 7 employer partners, enrolled 1,100 participants and collected more than 250,000 data points about rescue inhaler use. Veronica has worked for startups for almost 20 years doing everything from launching blogs, newsletters and patient communities to recruiting speakers, moderating panel conversations and developing new products. You can reach her on Twitter @vmcombs.

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