Why Best Buy is buying another health tech company

Best Buy is taking another step to strengthen its growing position in the world of health care tech.

The electronics retailer, better known for selling computers and video games, said on Tuesday it was buying Current Health, a tech company that facilitates remote patient monitoring and telehealth services, two of the areas Best Buy CEO Corie Barry has identified as being parts of health care where the company can find a niche.

In a presentation two years ago, Barry highlighted health care tech, particularly that which assists senior citizens, as a key ingredient in her plan to hit the $50 billion sales milestone within a few years. (The company hit $47.2 billion last year.) More specifically, the U.S. population of people 65 and older is set to double in the coming decades, and most of that demographic, even those with chronic conditions, will want to continue to live in their own homes, Barry said at the time, noting the sector’s enormous potential.

Barry, No. 13 on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in business list, also sees opportunity in tech that tracks people’s health and that can help health care providers manage costs. Current Health specializes in the tech that enables health care companies to monitor patients remotely, typically from home, using biosensors to see if a person is fine or needs assistance.

While Best Buy has performed very well during the pandemic, it still is looking to diversify its sources of revenue, notably with this health care incursion. “The future of consumer technology is directly connected to the future of health care,” said Deborah Di Sanzo, president of Best Buy Health. “We have the distinct expertise in helping customers make technology work for them directly in their homes.” The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement, but Best Buy expects the deal to close by the end of its fiscal year.

This isn’t Best Buy’s first health care acquisition: Before the Current Health deal, Best Buy spent at least $1 billion on acquisitions, the bulk of that on GreatCall in 2018, a seller of emergency-response systems for the elderly that serves more than 1 million people. The following year, it bought Critical Signal Technologies.