What Atul Gawande will bring to the table as CEO of Amazon-Berkshire-JPM venture

Effective July 9, surgeon and author Atul Gawande, who has been outspoken about healthcare costs and quality, will take over as CEO of the new initiative.

The much-hyped Amazon-Berkshire Hathaway-J.P. Morgan initiative has selected a CEO: Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His new position is effective July 9.

In addition to his clinical work, Gawande is a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He’s also a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of books like Being MortalBetter and The Checklist Manifesto. Finally, he is also founding executive director of the health systems innovation center, Ariadne Labs. In a sense, he is a bit of a 21st Century Renaissance Man and may end up being the perfect choice to shepherd this joint venture, which has reportedly had some trouble in attracting a chief executive.

In both his writing and his speaking appearances, Gawande has been outspoken about topics such as wasteful healthcare spending, unnecessary care amping up costs and the slow pace of innovation in healthcare.

“For all that we spend, the serious problem is waste,” Gawande said at West Health’s Healthcare Costs Innovation Summit in February. “Major parts of the system have ballooned to serve only themselves.”

His expertise in such areas could prove useful as he leads this new venture, which will initially focus on tech solutions that will help the three companies’ U.S. employees and their families with healthcare.

In a statement, he said:

I’m thrilled to be named CEO of this healthcare initiative. I have devoted my public health career to building scalable solutions for better healthcare delivery that are saving lives, reducing suffering and eliminating wasteful spending both in the US and across the world. Now I have the backing of these remarkable organizations to pursue this mission with even greater impact for more than a million people, and in doing so incubate better models of care for all.

While we don’t know the name of the entity that Gawande will lead, one thing we know is that it will function as “an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints,” according to a press release.

Amazon, Berkshire and J.P. Morgan also announced their new venture will be headquartered in Boston, which has transformed itself into a digital health ecosystem. The city is home to top-notch universities and hospitals, and the venture capitalist community has taken an interest in Boston-based digital health startups. Plus, the government has formed public-private partnerships to encourage digital health activity in Massachusetts.

The collaborative project between Amazon, Berkshire and JPM was first announced in late January and has since been the talk of the town. In May, CNBC reported the initiative was having a tough time finding a CEO. But by earlier this month, Warren Buffett said the group had settled on a leader and planned to reveal the name in two weeks. Geisinger CEO David Feinberg was apparently one of the top picks for the position, but recently said he will remain at the helm of the health system, according to CNBC.

Photo: z_wei, Getty Images

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