Babylon Health careful of UK expansion as it loses money on ‘every member’

The CEO of Babylon Health has said the company will be careful about any further expansion of its UK GP services after revealing that it loses money on “every member that comes in”.

Babylon’s GP at Hand was launched across London in 2017 as an NHS service which gave patients the option to video call with their GP with the primary practice being located in Lille Road in Hammersmith and Fulham.

The introduction of GP at Hand was met with criticism – including allegations it ‘cherry-picked’ patients and posed a risk of “destabilising” care for patients with the “greatest need” – but the company did expand to Birmingham in 2019 and also established partnerships with Royal Wolverhampton and Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.

During an ‘Ask the CEO’ series (hosted by Babylon) on May 26, the company’s CEO, Dr Ali Parsa, was asked if there were any plans for the company to expand its UK GP services even further.

In response, Dr Parsa said despite “overwhelming demand” for GP services, the company is exercising caution.

He said: “In reality, people use us six to seven times a year and we actually lose money on every member that comes in. We used to lose a lot of money, we lose a little money now.”

As result, Dr Parsa added: “We need to be, in today’s environment, super careful about the speed with which we grow that book. So we’re going to be cautious about the growth of that book, being very frank”.

Digital Health News has contacted Babylon Health for a comment.