Amazon, Berkshire, JPMorgan Health Care Venture Gets a Name: Haven

March 7, 2019

The Boston-based health care organization founded by giant employers Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase announced its name – Haven – and launched a new website at www.havenhealthcare.com.

Haven will serve the 1.2 million employees and families affiliated with Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase across the country. But over time its founders say it intends to share what it learns to help others.

The three companies announced plans in January 2018 to create this organization, which they say is “free from profit-making incentives and constraints.”

“We want to change the way people experience health care so that it is simpler, better and lower cost,” said Haven CEO Atul Gawande, MD, MPH. in prepared remarks in unveiling the name. “We’ll start small, learn from the experience of patients, and continue to expand to meet their needs.”

Dr. Gawande assumed the helm as CEO this past July and assembled a leadership team – including former Comcast executive Jack Stoddard as chief operating officer, Serkan Kutan as chief technology officer, Dana Safran as head of Measurement, and others.

Gawande is a surgeon, professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School, and a journalist who has written about rising healthcare spending.

JPMorgan, Amazon, Berkshire Venture to Target Health Issues Using Data, Technology

In recent months, Dr. Gawande said he has been meeting with Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase employees to understand their health care experiences.

In a letter posted on the new website, he vows that Haven will be an “advocate for the patient and an ally to anyone – clinicians, industry leaders, innovators, policymakers and others – who makes patient care and cost better.”

The website also identifies a some areas where the company hopes to improve upon the current health system, including the difficulty people have accessing care, navigating the complex system, and affording medical treatments and prescription drugs.

“The good news is the best results are not the most complicated or expensive. The right care in the right place is often more effective and less costly than what we get today,” Dr. Gawande said.

Currently Haven is focused on recruiting software engineers, data scientists and clinicians to join its team.

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