Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway And JPMorgan & Chase Announce Plans To Create A New Healthcare Company

This is interesting!

According to this, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan & Chase are creating their own healthcare company. They announced their new partnership Tuesday.

BREAKING: Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, and JPMorgan Chase partner on health care for their US employees through creation of “an independent company that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints” https://t.co/cnJS0BvXFU

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) January 30, 2018

The three companies will form an independent company to pursue this objective “free from profit-making incentives and constraints,” according to the companies’ release on the partnership.

The initial focus of the new company will be on technology solutions that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable cost.

All three of the companies’ leaders weighed in on the partnership, with Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffet saying: “The ballooning costs of healthcare act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy. Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. Rather, we share the belief that putting our collective resources behind the country’s best talent can, in time, check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes.”

The other CEOs released statements as well. Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said “Our people want transparency, knowledge and control when it comes to managing their healthcare. The three of our companies have extraordinary resources, and our goal is to create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families and, potentially, all Americans.”

“The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty,” Amazon’s Jeff Bezos added. “Hard as it might be, reducing healthcare’s burden on the economy while improving outcomes for employees and their families would be worth the effort. Success is going to require talented experts, a beginner’s mind, and a long-term orientation.”

We don’t really have many details beyond that.

#DigitalHealth can certainly help reduce healthcare costs (reference @KPShare and @VeteransHealth), but how is a private company “free from profit-making incentives and constraints”?
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase Launch New Healthcare Companyhttps://t.co/F8NnIhuQjZ pic.twitter.com/oPlFzzZqFj

— Paul Sonnier (@Paul_Sonnier) January 30, 2018

This 3-way partnership among Amazon, JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway on health care is the most interesting initiative out of corporate America I’ve seen in quite a while. https://t.co/18AVFnZ5PI.

— Erik Schatzker (@ErikSchatzker) January 30, 2018

It’s a measure of how dismal #Healthcare is in the US that I’m actually looking forward to some good ideas from the man who failed (thank god) to give us drone deliveries. @SenCoryGardner @SenBennetCO https://t.co/11WMNqE12I

— Nancy Banks (@bankswrites) January 30, 2018

I guess it’s time to start the jokes about lightening deals on colonoscopies : https://t.co/iE4JIY3r5w

— Rachel Stanley (@rcstanley) January 30, 2018

I like this idea but waiting on the experts to give their opinions. Amazon, Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase to team in landmark new health care company https://t.co/9TFB0djImS

— Heather Buen (@LetsGoHeather) January 30, 2018

Looking forward to see what #Amazon can innovate in the #Healthcare field working with Berkshire and JPMorgan Chase https://t.co/ipYAo4fToh

— Chris Manguerra (@chrismanguerra) January 30, 2018

This coud be real #impact. Hope they focus on outcomes! https://t.co/JoIzTXgWTf

— Sonal Shah (@SonalRShah) January 30, 2018

This is interesting. https://t.co/zL5vITu6VN

— Rory Diamond (@RoryDiamond) January 30, 2018

This is still in the “very early stages,” but the CEOs hope it expands. They’re already planning on partnering with other companies and organizations.

The group announced the news in the very early stages because it plans to hire a CEO and start partnering with other organizations, according to a person familiar with the matter. The effort would be focused internally first, and the companies would bring their data and bargaining power to bear on lowering health-care costs, the person said. Potential ways to bring down costs include providing more transparency over the prices for doctor visits and lab tests, as well as by enabling direct purchasing of some medical items, the person said.

Guess we’ll see. How do you feel about this collaboration?