Last week, Intermountain Healthcare announced an initiative to establish a not-for-profit generic drug company aimed at ending shortages and reducing prices. It was a bold move and reported here. But this morning, bold move to brazen as three corporate giants announced another initiative that pushes the healthcare debate in a new and unexpected direction.
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced today that they are partnering on ways to address healthcare for their U.S. employees, with the aim of improving employee satisfaction and reducing costs. The first choice in their disruption tool kit will be technology that will provide U.S. employees and their families with simplified, high-quality and transparent healthcare at a reasonable cost.
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. Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO
Looking back at old fixes doesn't seem to be the strategy. As Jeff Bezos implies, it appears that it's time to look forward with new thinking for a complex problem.
The healthcare system is complex, and we enter into this challenge open-eyed about the degree of difficulty. 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.” Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.The initial focus of the new company will be on technology solutions—at least according to the press release. The technology comment is tucked into the first paragraph but it also tempered by caveat of 'reasonable' cost. And while technology is mentioned once, cost is directly mentioned 5 times. There's no doubt that economics is driving today's healthcare debate and the actions by these three companies. But as technology is held up as a key solution, you must wonder what pressures will be placed upon innovation when examined under the magnifying glass of cost and value? Today 'experiments' at Intermountain, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase are interesting steps to tame a beast of healthcare. But the similarly bold and important innovations in health tech carry a cost too. This price may, in the final analysis, offer a great value than spreadsheet shifts and line item cuts.
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