Though the Affordable Care Act, mandating no out-of-pocket fee for birth control coverage, was signed almost a decade ago, there are still many women across Texas and beyond that lack access to affordable care and education.
Brooklyn-based Twentyeight Health, a telemedicine startup focused on reproductive and sexual health, is looking to change that, expanding its services for the first time beyond the East Coast to the Lone Star State starting in April.
“Unfortunately, some women are forgotten in our health care system,” Amy Fan, co-founder at Twentyeight, told NTX Inno. “When it comes to thinking about different birth control methods, we really believe the more options we provide, as well as the more knowledge we give to individuals, that’s how we can really empower them.”
The move marks the 13th state the company operates in, behind its home state and places like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland. And it’s part of a larger plan to be operating in up to 30 states by the end of the year.
While the company is not currently planning any physical location in the state, Fan said it plans to initially hire a few employees and expects that number to grow rapidly. It gains customers throughout the state.
Twentyeight – which takes its name from the number of days of the average menstrual cycle – launched in 2018, as Fan was looking to take the personalized service she experienced working in the D2C consumer health industry to health care, especially, as a Canadian, seeing the difficulties of navigating the U.S. health care system. She teamed up with Co-Founder Bruno Van Tuykom, who serves as CEO and previously worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation looking at disease and family planning tools in developing areas.
“I was really curious about how do we take this consumer-centric approach that is so common in beauty but often the patient experience is not at the center of health care in the U.S.,” Fan said.
The company landed a $5.1 million seed round in October of last year, led by Third Prime, which brought its total to around $6.6 million.
Fan said that, unlike many telehealth services that focus on customers who can pay out-of-pocket, Twentyeight focuses on underserved communities, especially women on Medicaid, and those who are uninsured or under-insured. Users of Twentyeight fill out a medical questionnaire and are then connected with a doctor to find the best birth control option for them. After that, prescriptions can be delivered directly, and patients can message their doctor anytime for follow-up questions. And since education can also be a barrier, the company provides sexual education on its website.
“Particularly for underserved communities, even getting to the doctor can be a challenge,” Fan said.
Also, to give back, Twentyeight donates two percent of its revenue to Bedsider, a birth control support network, and the National Institute of Reproductive Health.
“Even though we are a digital platform, they are real women who are using it, and we’re making real impact and making sure that we continue to think about what are more ways that we can make this even easier and simpler for them,” Fan said.
Fan said the Texas market was the next state where Twentyeight felt it could make the most impact. Partly because of its large population of residents, who, like other states, have tougher restrictions on Medicaid use, especially after a Texas court recently ruled that Planned Parenthood was being kicked out of the program. She added that, like many other states, women from underserved communities in Texas often lack access to affordable transportation or the ability to take time off from school or work for an appointment.
Like many other companies operating in the telehealth space, Twentyeight has grown during the pandemic. As it continues, Fan said it plans to expand its offering, looking to become a comprehensive reproductive and sexual health platform, with plans to offer its first STI medication later this year. The company is also looking to roll out offerings for pre-and post-natal services and menopause-related services.
“Telemedicine, I think, has been at the forefront way more than ever before, and what we’ve seen from that is… there’s an increase in awareness of telemedicine, and simultaneously there’s also an increased need,” Fan said.
