The news: Medtech giant Baxter is acquiring fellow medtech company Hillrom in a $12.4 billion deal thats expected to close by early 2022.

Why it matters: Together, Baxter-Hillrom will be able to offer a strong portfolio of digital health solutions to its hospital and health system customers.

Whats next? Baxters acquisition of Hillrom makes it a stronger competitor against younger, tech-driven digital health companies clawing at the same share of the growing hospital-at-home market.

The senior population is swelling and older adults want to age in their homes.

And the hospital-at-home movement is gaining traction on the government stage, making it all the more enticing to dive into:

Even though Baxter and Hillrom are not traditionally digitally-driven healthcare companies, their massive existing footprint in hospitals and health systems could give the combined entity a leg up.

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Med-tech giants Baxter and Hillrom consolidate in $12M deal that could shake up the connected health space - eMarketer