[author: Christian Boettcher]

Best Buy Co., Inc. announced that it has agreed to acquire Current Health. The deal between the companies is expected to close by the end of Best Buy’s fiscal 2022 fourth quarter.

Current Health is the developer of an AI-powered upper-arm wearable and related software platform that measures a patient’s respiration, pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature, and movement. The real-time measurement device received Class II clearance from the FDA for post-acute care, marking the first time that an end-to-end, passive RPM wearable and platform has received clearance from the agency.

In discussing the agreement between Best Buy and Current Health, Christopher McCann, CEO of Current Health stated:

Over the coming decade, significantly more healthcare can be delivered in the home. We started Current Health to make that exciting transition radically easier for healthcare providers to achieve . . . Best Buy has unparalleled physical reach, world-class supply chain logistics, and trusted support services–allowing us to provide a high-touch consumer experience, at scale. We’re excited to join with Best Buy Health to move safe and effective healthcare into the home globally.

This acquisition will continue Best Buy’s investment in consumer-side health care technologies. For example, Best Buy previously acquired GreatCall Inc. (now Lively Inc.), a personal emergency response subscription service, for $800 million in 2018 and acquired Critical Signal Technologies, Inc., a senior-focused remote patient monitoring provider, for $125 million in 2019. The significant investment into the healthcare technology space for the consumer electronics company follows what Best Buy sees as a major growth opportunity. In a March 2021 earnings call, Corie Berry, CEO of Best Buys, stated, “We plan to invest in people, product development and the ongoing development of our health technology platform and our data analytics and intelligence engines.” Deborah Di Sanzo, President of Best Buy Health, further elaborated by stating:

The future of consumer technology is directly connected to the future of healthcare. We have the distinct expertise in helping customers make technology work for them directly in their homes and by combining Current Health’s remote care management platform with our existing health products and services, we can create a holistic care ecosystem that shows up for someone across all of their healthcare needs.