Best Buy makes healthcare play with Atrium Health partnership
Best Buy Health is making another serious move in the healthcare space by teaming up with Atrium Health to offer hospital-at-home services.
The partnership aims to enable providers to provide hospital-level care at home, leaning on Atrium Health’s telemedicine services and Best Buy Health’s ongoing care at home platform.
Atrium Health, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an integrated, nonprofit health system with more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations. Atrium Health launched its hospital at-home services during the COVID-19 pandemic, intending to address patient surges during the early stages of the COVID-19. The program has since evolved to care for more conditions, including cardiac issues, COPD, pneumonia, asthma, various infections and other medical and post-operative conditions.
Best Buy Health is the company’s healthcare services business, described as the intersection of health and technology, that enables care at home. Best Buy has been building its health and wellness product business for some time, and acquired GreatCall, a senior-focused tech company for $800M, back in 2018. Best Buy also acquired Current Health, a remote patient monitoring technology vendor, for $400 million in 2021.
“Our partnership with Best Buy Health will help change the lives of our patients and consumers, giving them access to the tools and experiences they need to receive care in the comfort of their own home,” Rasu Shrestha, MD, chief innovation and commercialization officer at Advocate Health, part of Atrium Health, said in a statement. “Our surveys show high levels of patient satisfaction for our hospital at home experience and the use of virtual care is a valuable tool in our efforts to eradicate both economic and geographic disparities in accessing health care services. Together with Best Buy Health, we will combine our strengths to provide better outcomes and equitable access for patients who will receive their care in the home.”
The two companies plan to tackle the “complex requirements” of the program together, including leveraging Best Buy’s famous Geek Squad Agents to assist with logistics and technical support. Enabling technology in the home is another requirement for the program, as is patient education.
“We’re excited to leverage our expertise in omnichannel, supply chain, Caring Center support and services, in-home support and our ability to connect patients and providers through Current Health’s care at home platform,” Deborah Di Sanzo, president of Best Buy Health, said in a statement. “Those strengths, combined with Atrium Health’s extensive clinical expertise and deep experience leading in virtual care, will help us improve and enable care in the home for everyone.”
The hospital-at-home offering comes amid an ongoing shift from inpatient services to outpatient settings. More Americans are utilizing alternative sites of care rather than hospitals.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."