Startups, Pharma

Men’s wellness startup Hims rolls out telepsychiatry

Hims, a men’s wellness startup that offers hair loss treatments, mail order supplements and other wellness tools, is expanding into the mental health space. The company is offering virtual psychiatry consultations and plans to offer one-on-one therapy in the future.

Men’s health startup Hims is further expanding into mental health by offering psychiatric consults online. The company is rolling out telehealth psychiatry consultations for patients, starting in New York and California, with plans to expand to other states later.

Hims started in 2017 with a focus on men’s wellness, including mail-order prescriptions for hair loss, ED, skin products and supplements. Its counterpart, Hers, focuses on women’s health.

Like its other services, these appointments are designed for cash pay only. Hims is charging $59 per visit for the initial evaluation. From there, the service is charged under a subscription model, with a monthly cost of roughly $50 per month to cover the cost of medication, shipping and ongoing provider check-ins.

Patients are scheduled for five video visits during the first year of treatment through the Hims & Hers platform, three of which are required. It might not always be the same provider.

Psychiatrists will also have the ability to prescribe a number of common medications, such as citalopram, fluoxetine and sertraline.  But what happens if patients don’t respond well to the medication or dose?

“If at any time during the process the patient is not responding well to medication and is not appropriate for treatment on our platform, they will be advised to discontinue their medication based on the provider’s tapering recommendation, and be referred for in-person care,” Julian Cohen, new senior vice president of behavioral health for Hims & Hers, wrote in an emailed statement.

Hims first waded into mental health services in April, when it began offering anonymous group therapy sessions through its website. While the new offerings were a timely response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Hims had been planning for the past year to expand into mental health services.

“After listening to over 1,300 prospective patients, we realized the existing options left many people out — they were expensive and inflexible, and patients felt stuck in one-size-fits-all programs,” Cohen wrote. “Instead, people wanted a range of choices at a variety of price points, with the ability to alter their level of engagement as needed.”

Several companies have recently taken an interest in mental health services, with existing care shortages exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Changes in national and state telehealth laws have also made it easier to get reimbursed for appointments, though with Hims & Hers’ cash pay model, it’s not as big of a difference.

“While recent emergency orders have made it easier to access telehealth, there is still more to do to ensure everyone can experience the benefits of telemedicine,” Cohen wrote. “Additionally, many of the recent policy changes have been related to insurance reimbursements for telehealth which do not impact us as a cash-based platform.”

Hims, which is now valued at $1 billion, may also be planning to go public. According to Reuters, anonymous sources said the company is exploring the option of merging with a special purpose acquisition company, which would raise money in an IPO to pursue an acquisition.

Photo credit: Getty Images, photo_chaz

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