Retail technology giant Best Buy announced it has acquired Current Health, a maker of comprehensive healthcare-at-home technology. The announcement signals that major players such as Best Buy recognize how healthcare has quickly dominated the technology industry, and that connected care solutions represent the future of healthcare delivery.
A combination of an increasingly older population and the sweeping telehealth trend fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic has initiated a dramatic transformation in the healthcare landscape. This has already made personal connected care devices more common in the U.S., especially for seniors who wish to remain at home as they age. Beyond seniors, a majority of households may rely on some form of connected technology for a big chunk of their healthcare within the next few years.
Current Health’s platform enables at-home remote patient monitoring through a home hub device, wearable biosensors, and patient-reported information. Providers can monitor vital signs, track health data, and communicate with patients. The platform provides medication reminders, patient engagement features, and a rapid emergency contact system. Clinical algorithms give providers insight into patient health and support alerts for urgent conditions.
Through a partnership with Workpath, providers can order lab tests over the Current Health platform. The platform then dispatches a phlebotomist or nurse to the patient’s home to obtain the sample, avoiding the need for a physical lab visit. Another partner, ScriptDrop, facilitates Current Health’s prescription delivery service.
The acquisition allows Current Health to leverage Best Buy’s broad reach, robust supply chain, and large-scale tech support to bring care-at-home to a wider customer base with more comprehensive services. By leveling up its partnerships, Current Health plans to make options such as transportation, food delivery, and infusion therapy available to members, as well as streamlining more advanced at-home diagnostics for providers and patients.
This not Best Buy’s first acquisition in the healthcare space. It purchased the senior-focused device companies GreatCall (now Lively) in 2018 and Critical Signal Technologies in 2019.
