Best Buy Health, Biobeat partner on RPM wearables

Israeli healthtech startup Biobeat and Best Buy Health are teaming up to integrate the capabilities of Biobeat’s wrist and chest monitors, tying them into Best Buy Health’s Current Health platform.

The big box retailer, which acquired home care platform Current in 2021, will feature Biobeat’s wearables as part of its remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions.

Biobeat’s RPM devices are based on proprietary data collection mechanisms for monitoring 13 health parameters continuously.

The company’s wearables, which include a short-term, disposable chest-monitor and a long-term wrist-monitor, utilize photoplethysmography-based (PPG) sensors.

The PPG technology is designed to improve patient monitoring by offering non-invasive, continuous vital sign measurements with real-time data on blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate.

Biobeat also offers cuffless RPM solutions designed to collect millions of data points per patient daily, helping to better facilitate patient population management through a unified platform, with care teams able to monitor patients across various levels of acuity.

The company’s technology incorporates an AI-driven Early Warning Score system, offering real-time notifications to clinicians when a patient’s condition may potentially deteriorate.

“This extensive data collection enhances patient care by providing a comprehensive view of their health status. Clinicians benefit from real-time insights, enabling proactive interventions, personalized treatment plans and improved clinical decision-making,” Biobeat CEO Arik Ben Ishay said in a statement. 

THE LARGER TREND

The market for wearable devices with expanded health monitoring capabilities continues to evolve, involving devices from startups to major consumer tech giants including Apple and Google.

The Apple Watch Series 9 offers voice-based data entry for health information, while the Fitbit Charge 6 boasts more accurate heart rate readings.

In October, Sibel Health and Medidata announced a partnership to integrate Sibel’s data into Medidata’s AI-powered platform for life sciences, providing comprehensive participant monitoring capabilities during trials.

Other wearables in development or recently entering the market include Owlet’s pulse oximetry sock designed for infants, a ring-type blood pressure monitor developed by South Korean health tech startup Sky Labs and an AI-powered patch called PETAL (paper-like battery-free in situ AI-enabled multiplexed), developed in Singapore, which can monitor wound recovery.