Want to Stay STD Free? There’s an app for that.

Zach Davis Jan 20, 2013 Tweet

The next time you’re considering bumping uglies with a new partner, bump phones first.  

Wait, what?

A recently added feature to the MedXCom app for iOS, called MedXSafe, allows users to seamlessly exchange their STD free status by bumping iPhones.

After getting a screening, users can have their doctor sign off these results through the MedXSafe service (he/she will need to sign up with MedXCom him/herself).  This information is loaded into a user’s profile, which in turn can be shared through bumping phones with another MedXCom user.

But what about HIPAA?  You know, the federal regulation protecting personal health information?  Is MedXSafe in violation of this rule?

“Absolutely not,” says Dr. Michael Nusbaum, creator of MedXCom. “Your doctor, college health center or local health clinic can test you for STDs and sign off on MedXSafe that you are free of STDs as of the date the tests are completed. You choose to share the info. No privacy laws are broken and it never reveals if you have anything. It only provides you with a clean bill of health as of a certain date.”

As Dr. Nusbaum insinuates, such an app could prove to be especially beneficial to the college population as more than one in four college students have an STD (slightly worse odds than Russian Roulette).   But as the obligatory STD-conversation goes, and the MedXSafe website reiterates, the only way to be 100% safe is through abstinence.