Apps

Babylon acquires US health engagement company

Babylon has announced its latest acquisition, adding Higi, a consumer health engagement company​, to its product portfolio.

The move brings remote monitoring capabilities, through Higi’s ‘Smart Health Stations’, which are said to be located within five miles of 73 per cent of the US population; through health-checking kiosks found in grocery stores and pharmacies.

Babylon said the acquisition will help “its mission of reengineering every touch point in the healthcare continuum” and provide “a more holistic, end-to-end solution to meet the needs of payers, providers and retailers on the front lines of care delivery”.

In 2021, the Higi network hosted 11 million sessions where consumers engaged with the remote monitoring platforms to check in with or help to understand their health.

Dr. Ali Parsa, CEO, Babylon, commented: “Our mission is to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for every person, irrespective of the lottery of the geographic location, economic status or social hierarchy in which they find themselves. Our partnership with Higi will help us extend the range and reach of our services across the United States. We have known Higi’s executives, board and investors for a long time and share common values with them. I am humbled that they will now all become shareholders of Babylon and part of our joint mission to reengineer a better model of care for all.”

The company’s self service engagement platform will now help to extend the reach of Babylon’s virtual care platform, including providing access to hard-to-reach populations, the announcement stated.

In recent news, Babylon and Microsoft announced their collaboration on AI and cloud projects to explore opportunities and Babylon secured an additional £145 million sustainability-linked investment to support its growth plans.