Best Buy isn’t the first name that comes to mind when people think of health care. But a new partnership between the electronics retailer and Atrium Health, part of the nonprofit health system Advocate Health, is a sign of how big tech and retail companies are getting in on the booming hospital-at-home market.
Best Buy entered the health care space with its acquisitions of GreatCall in 2018 and Current Health in 2021. Current Health is a remote patient monitoring platform that major hospital systems across the country rely upon to communicate with patients and track patients’ vital signs. Atrium Health, meanwhile, launched its home hospital program in 2020 and has since served over 6,300 patients.
With the Atrium partnership, the goal is to apply Best Buy’s delivery and technical support expertise to home health care. If a patient needs a blood pressure cuff, for example, Best Buy would deliver the device and then enlist “Geek Squad” support employees to train patients on how to use the at-home hospital setup.
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