Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase in January announced a health care partnership. At that time, the three companies said their joint goal was to identify technology solutions that would provide “simplified, high-quality and transparent health care at a reasonable cost.” In February, Berkshire Chair Warren Buffett told CNBC in an interview that the venture aims to find a lower-cost way of delivering better health care.
In his annual letter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon provided more detail on the venture, saying the companies will hire a strong management team to focus on six critical problems and issues in the health care industry:
- Aligning incentives among patients, physicians, and insurers;
- Determining why specialized and costly treatments are frequently over- and under-utilized;
- Developing improved wellness programs, targeting obesity and smoking;
- Examining the amount of money spent on administration, fraud and waste;
- Examining why an “extraordinary” amount of money is spent on end-of-life care; and
- Empowering employees through access to health care data and telemedicine.
Dimon wrote in his letter that the venture will use “top management, big data, virtual technology, better customer engagement, and the improved creation of customer choice” to address issues in health care. He added that while the joint venture will start small, the participating companies are optimistic.
