Atul Gawande To Lead Corporate Health Initiative

(RTTNews) - Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase have appointed Dr. Atul Gawande as Chief Executive Officer of their newly-formed company to address U.S. employee healthcare.

The new company will be headquartered in Boston and will operate as an independent entity that is free from profit-making incentives and constraints.

The newly formed employee initiative is aimed to improve health care for the three companies' more than a million combined U.S. employees and also at the same time make it more cost-effective.

"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," Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said in the Wednesday release. "Atul embodies all three, and we're starting strong as we move forward in this challenging and worthwhile endeavor."

"I'm thrilled to be named CEO of this healthcare initiative," said Atul, "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. This work will take time but must be done. The system is broken, and better is possible."