Dive Brief:
- Best Buy and Geisinger plan to co-develop a package of technology and services to help healthcare organizations operate their own chronic condition management programs, the companies announced Tuesday.
- It’s too early to specify what the package will include, but the goal is to scale results Best Buy and Geisinger have achieved at that system to other operators, according to Chris McGhee, CEO of Best Buy’s care-at-home platform Current Health.
- The tech retailer has helped Geisinger deliver in-home care to patients with chronic conditions through its Geek Squad since last year.
Dive Insight:
Pennsylvania-based Geisinger — one of the biggest integrated health systems in the U.S. — launched its chronic care management platform, called ConnectedCare365, in 2021. Since then, that program has grown to cover 1,100 patients in remote patient monitoring programs for conditions like congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension and diabetes, according to the system.
Patients in the program receive devices like blood pressure cuffs and glucose meters to monitor their health through Current Health, which Best Buy acquired for $400 million in 2021.
Geisinger began using Best Buy’s Geek Squad last summer to deliver, install and activate the devices. In the program, which has served 300 Geisinger patients to date, the Geek Squad is also available to troubleshoot any device problems and deactivate the devices if patients are discharged.
The program allows providers to implement patient monitoring more quickly and improves care plan adherence, Best Buy says.
Now, Best Buy and Geisinger plan to co-create a chronic care management package in which Best Buy will supply patient engagement and monitoring, and Geisinger will bring clinical expertise.
McGhee said it’s too early to discuss the client base for an eventual home care package or a timeline for a product launch. He declined to discuss the financial terms of the Geisinger partnership or the revenue model of an eventual package.
Best Buy Health also declined to provide a full list of its remote patient monitoring clients, but says it works with five of the top 20 healthcare systems in the U.S.
Earlier this year, the company inked a similar deal with Atrium Health to bolster the regional nonprofit’s existing hospital-at-home programming and sell to other hospital clients down the line.
Hospital-at-home programs allow patients to receive acute-level care in the home and can shave down costs while expanding medical access.
Widespread adoption of hospital-at-home models has historically been curtailed by physician uncertainty and patchwork reimbursement policies, though more government allowances for hospital-at-home programs enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic have caused investment in the models to explode.
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.
