Best Buy takes a half-step back from health tech with Current Health sale

Best Buy has shed a health tech startup it bought for a reported $400 million nearly four years ago as the retailer works to make its health business more profitable.

Current Health announced this week founder Christopher McGhee re-acquired the patient monitoring platform from Best Buy.

The Scottish health company offers remote vital-sign monitoring for “hospital-at-home” care. McGhee says Current Health reached a third of U.S. patients in that situation in recent years.

“We’ll be recommitting to our mission and building a world-leading organization with an integrated and intelligent solution for shifting more health care into home and community settings,” McGhee wrote in a blog post.

Current Health didn’t immediately respond to calls and emails requesting comment, and Richfield-based Best Buy did not disclose the terms of the sale.

Before the pandemic, Best Buy started beefing up its health business, spending $800 million to buy a mobile device and emergency call service, pulling health care executives onto its board of directors and creating a president of Best Buy Health role. The plan was to serve an aging population and it seemed as if the global health crisis magnified the mission.

“As you think about virtual care, especially given the last 18 months that we’ve all gone through and that ability to not always rely on an in-person hospital visit ... there’s an even greater use case now,” CEO Corie Barry said in a 2021 call with Wall Street analysts, months before the company announced the Current Health acquisition.

But now, the segment is confronting new hurdles.

While Best Buy’s closely watched same-store figures sales have stopped sliding in recent quarters, executives said last month pressure on the health business offset stronger financial performance in other parts of the company.

Asset impairments, meaning business holdings that have lost value, within the health business largely made up $109 million in restructuring charges the company incurred for the three-month period that ended May 4.

On a call with analysts last month, Barry said some of Best Buy’s “very discrete in-home health” services face challenges due to sluggish adoption.

A federal waiver allowing certain hospitals to treat patients at home was “caught up in a lot of the (Trump) administration’s budgeting conversations,” Barry said. Health care providers fueling these services also are facing financial struggles, she added.

“We still believe in the fundamental strategy of leveraging technology to enable care at home and believe it will be important to the future of health care,” Barry said during a call with analysts in March, “but the market is not scaling as fast as we originally forecasted. We will continue actions intended to maximize the value and improve the profitability of the business.”

Other parts of the health business remain viable, Barry said last month. A spokesperson highlighted that the segment still includes medical alert systems Lively and PERS+.

“Best Buy Health will help ensure a smooth transition over the next few months ensuring the safety of all patients and the success of our customers,” the spokesperson said.

McGhee, who founded Current Health in 2014, is focused on building a “globally significant company with our brilliant and dedicated team,” he said on LinkedIn.

“The job isn’t finished.”

Staff writer Carson Hartzog contributed to this report.