Sexual healthcare provider TBD Health has moved into the B2B market by providing digital health companies’ patients access to its at-home sexually transmitted disease tests, diagnostics lab and clinics, the company announced Thursday. TBD Health is starting by partnering with LGBTQIA+ healthcare provider FOLX Health and sexual health company Wisp.
“We wanted to bring historically ‘competing’ brands together to help solve the fragmented health system we are all united against,” said Stephanie Estey, TBD Health co-founder and co-CEO, in an email. “Working together ultimately enables us to move further towards our aligned goal to provide unparalleled access to sexual and reproductive healthcare for highly stigmatized communities across the country.”
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New York City-based TBD Health is an online and in-person sexual healthcare platform. It offers at-home STD testing and emergency contraception, as well as telemedicine consults. Its in-person clinics are located in Las Vegas and Denver. Boston-based FOLX Health, meanwhile, is a telehealth platform designed for the LGBTQIA+ community. Its services include gender-affirming care, primary care, sexual and reproductive health, family building and mental health care. Wisp, based in San Francisco, is a virtual health provider for vaginal health, reproductive health and sexual health.
Through the partnership, FOLX Health can offer its members TBD Health’s at-home STD kits and depend on its labs, which can provide next-day STD results. These services are especially beneficial for those in the LGBTQIA+ community, who often struggle to access healthcare, said Liana Douillet Guzmán, CEO of FOLX Health.
“Only 5% of our members could find an LGBTQIA+ affirming provider before coming to FOLX,” Douillet Guzmán said in an email. “Many of our members either live in a care desert or can’t be seen by an expert in enough time due to long wait lists. … Offering at-home STI testing is a comfortable and affirming option for many of our community members. Through our partnership with TBD Health, we can expand access to care for our community members while also encouraging healthcare that is free of judgment for everyone.”
For Wisp, the company can now refer its telehealth patients to TBD Health’s in-person clinics in Las Vegas and Denver. These patients can receive TBD Health’s STD testing, PrEP prescriptions, UTI treatments and other services.
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“Especially when it comes to women’s sexual health, there are certain things like IUD insertion or your annual pap smear that we just can’t [deliver virtually],” said Monica Cepak, interim CEO of Wisp, in an interview last week at CES 2024. “These are such important touch points in a woman’s health journey, and that’s why it’s important for us to partner with TBD.”
Estey of TBD Health said that its business model with its digital health partners “varies depending on the integration.” In working with other virtual healthcare providers, Estey added that she ultimately aims to “ensure that everyone has the opportunity to take control of their sexual health.”
Photo: alphaspirit, Getty Images
