Haven, Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan company aimed at disrupting healthcare, dissolves after 3 years

Haven, the joint venture formed by three of America’s most powerful companies to cut costs and improve health care outcomes, is breaking up after three years, CNBC has learned exclusively.

The company began advising employees on Monday that it will shut down by the end of next month, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Many of the Boston-based firm’s 57 employees are expected to be placed with Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway or JPMorgan Chase as companies move forward individually in their efforts, and the three companies should always collaborate. informally on health projects, people said. .

The announcement three years ago that Amazon CEOs Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase had teamed up to tackle one of the biggest issues facing American businesses – the high and rising costs of care employee health – sent shock waves through the world of medicine. Shares of healthcare companies tumbled over fears about how the combined might of leaders in tech and finance could root costs out of the system.

The decision to shut down Haven may be a sign of the difficulty of improving U.S. healthcare, a complex and ingrained system of doctors, insurers, drugmakers and middlemen that is costing the country $ 3.5 trillion. dollars every year. Last year, Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett appeared to point this out, saying it doesn’t guarantee Haven will succeed in improving healthcare.

One of the main issues that Haven faced was that while the company came up with ideas, each of the three founding companies executed their own projects separately with their own employees, thus avoiding the need to start with the joint venture, according to the people. , who declined to be identified when discussing the matter.

Haven spokesperson Brooke Thurston confirmed plans to close the business and made this statement:

“The Haven team has made good progress exploring a wide range of healthcare solutions, as well as experimenting with new ways to make primary care easier to access, insurance benefits easier to understand and use, and more affordable prescription drugs, ”Thurston said in an email.

“Going forward, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will leverage this information and continue to collaborate informally to design tailored programs to meet the specific needs of our employees and locations,” she said. declared.

This story is developing. Please come back for updates.