Hims & Hers announces new partnerships, including one with Jennifer Lopez

Direct-to-consumer digital health company Hims & Hers announced two new partnerships Tuesday—one a traditional collaboration and another that's a bit more flashy.

Hims will be partnering with Louisiana-based Ochsner Health System to provide patients with direct access to Ochsner providers and clinicians through the health system's digital medicine programs. The collaboration will help provide better access to care for Hims consumers with chronic conditions or other medical issues which Hims currently doesn't offer treatment options, the two organizations said.

Hims and Ochsner will begin offering this service to consumers in Florida next year. The plan is to expand the service to more states by the end of 2020, Hims executives wrote in a blog post published on Medium on Tuesday.

Ochsner provides clinical care across 90 specialties and subspecialties, including through its digital medicine program, a clinically proven program to virtually manage chronic conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes.

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Through its online and telehealth platform, Hims & Hers conducts patient health screenings to determine if patients are an appropriate candidate for treatment. Through the collaboration with Ochsner, when the results of a patient's health screening shows evidence of a medical condition such as high blood pressure or diabetes, those patients will be connected to the innovationOchsner digital medicine programs.

These digital medicine programs use medical devices and wearables, such as the Apple Watch, to track and monitor patients' health to help manage their chronic conditions.

In an interview with FierceHealthcare, Hims CEO Andrew Dudum said Ochsner was "one of, if not the best, technically advanced health system" and has invested in care programs to help patients address cardiovascular disease and diabetes management by leveraging new technology

Dudum said the company plans to expand into more health and wellness categories.

"Partnering with Ochsner we want to find opportunities to leverage their expertise in building particular clinical protocols for important medical conditions that we don’t offer access to treatment for and bring those onto the platform. We see this as an amazing first step in expanding care with experts like Ochsner for conditions that we don’t currently service," he said.

Hims launched in 2018 with a focus on erectile dysfunction and hair loss products. The company now provides access to medical care and treatment for more than a dozen conditions, with more than 50 products. It has scaled its business quickly with 1 million medical visits completed through its telehealth platforms to date.

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The company has reached $100 million in annualized sales and expects to reach $250 million in recurring revenue by the end of 2020, Hims executives said.

New celebrity partnerships

The company is also teaming up with two big names in Hollywood and sports—Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez. 

As part of the promotional partnership, Lopez and Rodriguez will work with the company on "an assortment of new products," the company said in an announcement.

In a video, Lopez said Hims & Hers "makes self-care easy and effective."

"Hims & Hers gives people affordable access to high-quality products and doctors, to help you take better care of yourself," Lopez said.

Dudum said in a statement that patients shouldn't feel like they can’t get the care they need because going to the doctor is too expensive or their symptoms are too embarrassing to talk about. "We’re thrilled to work with Jennifer and Alex to democratize access to the high-quality health and wellness products we all deserve," he said.