US company eMed takes over digital GP services
Commitment: head of eMed, Patrice Harris
A US healthcare company has taken over NHS digital GP services following the collapse of previous provider Babylon.
Florida-based eMed acquired Babylon UK after it went into administration in August.
“We are fully committed to all our patients, private and NHS, and our vision will be people-driven and digitally enabled,” said eMed chief executive Patrice Harris, who was the first black woman to be president of the American Medical Association.
The sale means eMed will take over GP At Hand, a service that contracts with the NHS to allow patients to book appointments and speak to doctors online or by video call.
Babylon created the service in 2017 and has more than 100,000 users.
But the company, which listed on the US stock market in 2021 with a value of more than £3 billion, ran out of cash after trying to expand rapidly in the US market.
In May, the company announced it was going private in a deal with Swiss digital neurotherapy company MindMaze, but this quickly unraveled and Babylon filed for bankruptcy in the US shortly after.
The group’s five physical clinics in London will remain open.
