New York City-based start-up Biem has released the world’s first virtual sexual healthcare service.

With the aim of encouraging more sexual health testing and information sharing, the app and service makes it easy to talk to a sexual healthcare representative and arrange getting tested. Biem says it “eradicates opportunities for inaction by easily and discreetly allowing users to talk one-on-one with sexual healthcare providers, get tested from home (with FDA-approved testing policies), receive secure results directly to their phones and seamlessly show verified results to sexual partners.” App users can also send and receive anonymous notifications if someone they’ve connected with on the app tests positive for an STD.

To benefit from the service, users answer basic questions about themselves on the Biem app, and schedule a video chat with a sexual healthcare provider. After the video appointment, the user can choose to have a lab technician visit them in their own home to take samples, or go to a nearby lab. Once samples are processed, the results are sent to the app and users can opt to show their results to their partners securely on their phone.

In June, the service rolled out a limited launch in a controlled area in New York City to ensure the quality of its network of healthcare professionals.

See New Attitudes to Love and Sex for Gen Z and millennial attitudes to love, sex and dating, and Digital Healthcare Trends 2017 for insights into the rapidly evolving healthcare market.