Dive Brief:
- Best Buy plans to start selling continuous glucose monitors in the next few weeks, in the tech retailer’s first foray into prescription-based medical device sales.
- The company plans to sell the Dexcom G7 CGM at launch, and is looking to expand to offer additional CGM systems from other manufacturers, according to the company.
- Customers who want to buy a CGM will be routed to virtual care platform Wheel, where clinicians will determine a patient’s eligibility and write a prescription. Pharmacy tech provider HealthDyne will receive and process prescriptions, and consumers can then purchase the CGMs on Best Buy’s website for delivery to their home.
Dive Insight:
Best Buy has been increasingly active in healthcare as it angles to solidify itself as a valuable partner for hospitals and health plans looking for ways to help consumers manage their healthcare at home. The company has sold medical devices for at-home use for a few years, but Monday’s announcement represents the Minnesota-based retailer’s first foray into devices that need physician approval.
More than 11% of Americans — some 37.3 million people — have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, roughly 10 million people are treated with insulin and could benefit from a CGM, which measure users’ blood glucose levels in real time and have been shown to reduce the risk of hypo- or hyperglycemia.
However, cost is a major barrier to CGM access, according to the American Diabetes Association. CGMs can be expensive, costing up to several thousand dollars a year. Dexcom G7 sensors retail for around $450 for a 30-day supply, according to GoodRx.
At Best Buy, the Dexcom G7 will cost $179.99 for a 30-day supply. Best Buy is not currently accepting insurance, and the retailer did not say whether it plans to do so.
The Best Buy offering’s value add for consumers is a simplified prescribing experience through Wheel, and the convenience of the CGM being delivered to patients’ homes, according to the company. In addition, one prescription offers monthly refills for a year.
Dexcom G7s are also currently available for $180 or less without insurance with a GoodRx coupon. CGMs are more affordable with insurance — for example, the Dexcom G7 costs roughly $35 with insurance if purchased at Amazon Pharmacy, which also offers home delivery.
Best Buy first stepped into healthcare in 2018 when it acquired emergency response provider GreatCall for $800 million. In 2019, Best Buy purchased remote monitoring company Critical Signal Technologies, and late last year, the tech retailer also invested in a logistics platform that coordinates in-home care.
Best Buy has also inked partnerships with two major health systems this year to co-develop at-home condition management programs.
