The Future of Health at Home: Current Health will team up with Best Buy
The following is a message from our CEO, Christopher McCann. You can read more about our announcement with Best Buy here.
Today, we’re taking the next step in our journey to help healthcare providers deliver more care at home by announcing that we’ve entered into an agreement to be acquired by Best Buy. Best Buy’s proposed acquisition of Current Health represents a very exciting partnership within the healthcare space.
Reflections on the last year in health
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken millions of lives and affected billions more. It has led to extreme pressures on our healthcare services, our healthcare professionals, and the broader society.
We’ve also seen a truly inspiring response from the healthcare, government, and business communities as well as from society as a whole. We’ve seen levels of innovation and change that we previously thought impossible. Healthcare, often portrayed as a conservative, slow-moving industry, reinvented itself almost overnight with a focus on agility and decentralization. Among the many innovations we’ve seen in the global COVID response—from vaccine development to the incredible efforts of healthcare providers to adjust their delivery models—it has been clearly demonstrated that we can deliver far more healthcare in the home than ever thought possible.
As the CEO of a company founded with the mission of bringing more healthcare into the home, it has been a privilege to be a part of this global, seismic change. We were so honored to be a part of the rapid development of vaccines for COVID, supporting clinical trials in the U.S. and Latin America, as well as to help health systems across the UK and US as they reinvented their approach to delivery.
With the increasing ability to support care in the home, growing provider support for such models and skyrocketing consumer demand, the future for care at home certainly is bright.
But, there are two issues that I have spent a lot of time thinking about:
- Healthcare is, and always will be, inherently local, inherently physical. It is impossible for everything to be done virtually. This is especially true for those on the other side of the digital divide where access to smartphones or WiFi is not a given. Healthcare at home cannot just be for the few. It must be equitably accessible to all if we truly want to bring positive change. To truly deliver the highest quality care at home, we must have the ability to visit patients’ homes and truly support them – through a mix of human-centric service and technology support.
- While healthcare at home has come a long way, it is still operating at a small scale in comparison to the overall opportunity. The reason? Providers face infrastructure, technology and logistics gaps that obstruct them from delivering care in the home.This means that despite advances in medicine, these hurdles will continue to hold us back from realizing their true benefit.
Overcoming these two challenges is no small feat. It requires enormous physical infrastructure and human-centric capabilities that take decades to build.
How Best Buy + Current Health are aligned
Best Buy Health has a mission to help enrich and save lives through technology and meaningful connection. As I’ve gotten to know their team, it became clear very early on that we shared a similar vision for the future of healthcare as well as a common understanding of the challenges of making the home a primary site of care.
More than the clear product synergy, I was further encouraged by our cultural alignment with the Best Buy team. Both organizations share the same focus on team, doing the right thing, and doing right by our customers, providers and patients. Deborah Di Sanzo, the President of Best Buy Health, is someone I’ve gotten to know and have grown to hugely respect. In Deborah, I have found someone with an equal passion for changing how healthcare is delivered and with extensive experience in doing so, at scale.
Some personal reflections
For me, joining Best Buy represents the closing of one chapter and the opening of another. It has been a remarkable journey to get to this point, full of ups and downs. In building Current Health, I have experienced some of my greatest highs and also some of my deepest lows. This has been the greatest challenge of my life and looking back now, there is not a single moment I have not loved—even where it did not feel that way at that time. But the truth is, Current Health would be nothing without our team. They have built all of this from the ground up. They have worked tirelessly, selflessly for years to create something truly amazing.
To my team, I could not be prouder to get to work with and learn from each and every one of you. It is a privilege and honor to consistently be the dumbest one in the room. None of this would be possible without you. I am so grateful and so thankful for all of your efforts and cannot wait to continue this incredible journey together.
To all of our customers, I am excited to continue to support and work alongside you. So many of you have put so much faith in me and in Current Health. Your belief in our team and our vision has, and will always, humble me. Thank you. Together with Best Buy, I believe we can even better deliver for you and for your patients. I promise I will continue to be singularly focused on how we can help you meet your goals and I will continue to remain at your disposal.
Along this journey, so many have lent a helping hand. Our investors, our partners and suppliers, our supporters and fans. There are too many of you to list here and there is too little space to do true justice to how much you have done for the company and for me personally. You all know who you are and I thank you deeply.
Lastly, it would be remiss of me if I did not take this opportunity to thank those who often go unnoticed. Our loved ones and family members who have sacrificed much to allow us the chance to build and create. My fiancée, Jo-Ann, has been with me through every step of this journey. Without her, I would have been unable to do any of this.
Looking ahead
On my own personal plans. I will be right here, leading Current Health and contributing to the growth of Best Buy Health. My focus is on building, growing and leading this amazing team and delivering healthcare at home globally. I am excited to work with our new colleagues at Best Buy over the coming years to make this happen. Speaking personally, I have never been more excited about Current Health and the future we are creating.
