Best Buy
will soon sell prescription devices for monitoring glucose levels, the company said Monday, as it forges ahead with its efforts to solidify its presence in health care.
Best Buy (ticker: BBY) plans to sell the Dexcom G7 Continuous Glucose Monitoring system online to eligible customers. The Dexcom G7, used for treating diabetes, contains a small device that is inserted under the skin to track glucose levels in real time. It delivers data to a receiver or a smartphone app.
This is the first time Best Buy is offering a prescription-based medical device, but it aims to offer more options for glucose monitoring, the company said. It hopes to expand beyond glucose monitoring as well.
“Through our health and wellness categories at Best Buy, we make it easy to purchase any of our thousands of carefully curated technology products that help you stay healthy throughout every stage of your life,” the company said in a press release. “And with the new CGM offering, we’re making the process of purchasing a CGM easier, too.”
Customers looking for the Dexcom device will be able to find it on BestBuy.com or through BestBuy’s health portal, Wellness.BestBuyHealth.com. Customers on the portal will be directed to an online questionnaire offered by Wheel, which works with the retailer on telehealth. Wheel will issue a prescription if the questionnaire responses show the patient is eligible, allowing Best Buy to sell and deliver the device.
Best Buy won’t initially accept insurance for the devices. Its system also doesn’t currently let people upload prescriptions from their own health care providers, but Best Buy plans to allow that soon.
Best Buy has been carving out a position in health care since 2018, when it acquired GreatCall, a health technology company that offers safety products for older adults such as the Lively medical-alert device. Three years later, the company acquired Current Health, a platform that brings together remote patient monitoring, telehealth, and patient engagement to make home care easier. Best Buy now also carries a wide selection of hearing aids and other over-the-counter health technology.
The stock has fallen 14% this year as demand for electronics has weakened, while the S&P 500 is up 12%. Total revenue was down about 7% year over year in Best Buy’s latest quarter.
But while initiatives like Best Buy Health are still in their early stages and thus aren’t big sources of revenue, some analysts see the segment as a solid long-term bet, especially when it comes to increasing profitability.
“Best Buy Health has already begun to contribute positively to BBY’s EBIT margin outlook—an estimated ~10 basis points in 2023—with more to come in the out-years,” wrote Guggenheim analyst Steven Forbes in a note to clients last week. Forbes has a Buy rating and $86 price target on the shares.
Write to Sabrina Escobar at [email protected]
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