Atul Gawande, MD, who was selected as the chief executive of the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase health venture last summer, has outlined several ways he plans to tackle skyrocketing healthcare costs, according to CNN.
Four things to know:
1. Dr. Gawande, who also works as a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, faces significant expectations and pressures in his role as leader of the venture, called Haven.
"The pressure is, can Atul find the secret sauce that many others have missed. The cynic in me ... wonders if anybody can make a difference. The optimist in me would say that if anybody can make a difference, it's probably Atul," Niall Brennan, president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, told CNN. "He's a god-like rockstar in healthcare. Atul is an incredible visionary thinker and clinician with also a track record of innovation."
2. While little has been revealed about Haven, the organization's primary goal is to make access to primary care easier, make insurance benefits simpler to understand and make prescription drugs more affordable for the companies' combined 1.2 million employees.
3. Dr. Gawande has previously said he plans to focus the venture's efforts on reducing prices and removing some of the middlemen in the industry to lessen administrative costs. He has acknowledged that the mission is challenging, but that "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," he said in a statement to CNN.
4. Haven isn't the first organization to attempt to mitigate rising healthcare costs for employees. CNN reports several large employers have tried to institute changes, but have seen minimal results. Among them is General Motors' partnership with Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System to provide care to more than 24,000 GM workers and their families.
To access the full report, click here.