Do you remember when Haven Healthcare was launched? 

It was February 2018 when Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase announced a collaboration to do something about healthcare for their employees. 

I shared my initial thoughts in this article focused on transparency, tech innovation, and the decision to form their collaboration as a non-profit entity. 

So, what do we know after 18 months? I’m sharing 4 updates…

1. The Team

A high-profile executive team has been assembled led by Atul Gawande who was tapped to lead the team last June. Dr. Gawande is well known in the industry. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital and is a professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Whew!)

During the announcement, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon stated, “We said at the 
outset that the degree of difficulty is high, and success is going to require an expert’s knowledge, a beginner’s mind, and a long-term orientation. Atul embodies all three, and we’re starting strong as we move forward in this challenging and worthwhile endeavor.”

Click here to learn more about eight other Haven leaders.

2. The Name

Leaders initially held off giving a name to this venture, which left journalists using the nickname “AmBerMorg.” But this March - more than a year after the original announcement - the formal Haven Healthcare name was unveiled.

Why doesn’t the name reflect the names of the founding companies? While initial solutions will be applied to employees and families of Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, Haven Healthcare anticipates expanding its reach to the broader industry over time.

3. The Vision

Immediate reactions to this venture included curiosity, questions and plenty of rumors. The new Haven Healthcare website provides the most detailed information available so far. 

Their Vision page provides these insights…

“We believe it is possible to deliver simplified, high-quality, and transparent health care at a reasonable cost.”

Haven Healthcare hopes to improve health care delivery by “pursuing a number of common-sense fixes, as well as innovative approaches, to address issues like
making primary care easier to access, insurance benefits simpler to understand and easier to use, and prescription drugs more affordable.”

How do they view the role of insurers in this collaboration? Their website gives the following hint, “We are interested in working with clinicians and insurance companies to improve the overall health care system. We will be an ally of anyone who is working to make health care better for patients.”

4. The Future

The healthcare industry is ripe for disruption – cries for transparency and an overall better end-user experience continue. Technological advances will certainly play some role in the innovations Haven plans to deliver. But, the scope of anticipated advances goes further. Haven vows to “create new solutions and work to change systems, technologies, contracts, policy, and whatever else is in the way of better care.”

While it’s still early, this team has resolved to transform healthcare. Only time can reveal their methods and the successes they’ll deliver.

Now it’s your turn! What part of Haven Healthcare’s vision intrigues you most? What are the most critical challenges? Comment below or send me an email at tonia@freshbenies.com.