Subscription-based care moves beyond peddling birth control and helping with hair loss

Online, direct-to-consumer health care has grown well beyond its roots mostly treating hair loss and acne or selling birth control pills

Need help losing weight or handling depression? How about a pill that lowers cholesterol and treats erectile dysfunction?

Online subscription services for care have grown far beyond their roots dealing mainly with hair loss, acne or birth control. Companies including Hims & Hers, Ro and Lemonaid Health now provide quick access to specialists and regular prescription deliveries for a growing list of health issues.

Hims recently launched a weight-loss program starting at $79 a month without insurance. Lemonaid began treating seasonal affective disorder last winter for $95 a month. Ro still provides birth control, but it also connects patients trying to have children with regular deliveries of ovulation tests or prenatal vitamins.

This Netflix-like approach promises help for two common difficulties in the U.S.: access to health care and prescription refills. But it also stirs concern about care quality.

“This isn’t medicine. This is selling drugs to consumers,” said Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman, who studies pharmaceutical marketing at Georgetown.