Haven Healthcare
| Company type | Nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Industry | Healthcare |
| Founded | 2018 |
| Defunct | February 2021 |
| Headquarters | Boston , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Atul Gawande (former CEO), Mitch Betses (former COO) |
Number of employees | 57 |
Haven was established as a nonprofit healthcare initiative by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase with the goal of enhancing healthcare quality and lowering expenses for their workforce. Based in Boston and maintaining additional offices in New York City, Haven sought to improve access to primary care, reduce the cost of prescription medications, and simplify insurance benefit structures. The organization discontinued operations in February 2021, with analysts citing ambiguous goals, inexperienced management, and competition from Amazon’s own healthcare projects as key reasons for its closure.
2018
On January 30, 2018, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase revealed plans to create Haven, aiming to provide affordable, high-quality healthcare services to more than one million employees globally. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, highlighted the advantage of combining their resources to benefit U.S. workers and potentially extend solutions nationwide. Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway referred to healthcare expenses as a significant economic challenge.
In June 2018, Atul Gawande was appointed as Haven’s chief executive officer. Later that year, Dana Gelb Safran joined as head of measurement, bringing her expertise from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. In December, Haven recruited David Smith from UnitedHealth Group’s Optum division; his hiring sparked a legal dispute over non-compete clauses that was ultimately resolved in favor of Haven by early 2019.
2019
February 2019 saw the appointment of Serkan Kutan, previously CTO at ZocDoc, as Haven’s chief technology officer.
By April 2019, Haven expanded with a second office located in Manhattan’s Union Square area dedicated to technology and engineering efforts.
In May 2019, Jack Stoddard stepped down from his role as COO after nine months on the job, citing difficulties related to commuting between Philadelphia and Boston.
November 2019 marked a partnership between Haven and Cigna along with CVS Health's Aetna to provide health insurance plans for 30,000 J.P. Morgan employees based in Arizona and Ohio. Meanwhile, Amazon extended its healthcare coverage to workers in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Utah, and Connecticut through an unnamed insurer. This wellness program included monthly monetary rewards for employees who met specific health objectives.
2020
In May 2020, Atul Gawande announced his resignation as CEO. Mitch Betses, the chief operating officer at the time, took over daily management responsibilities while the search for a new CEO continued.
Disbandment in 2021
On January 4, 2021, Haven declared it would "cease independent operations by the end of February 2021." The statement reflected on the three-year effort during which Haven explored strategies to improve primary care accessibility, streamline insurance benefits, and lower prescription drug prices. Moving forward, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. intended to apply these learnings independently to better serve their employees’ healthcare needs.
At closure, Haven employed 57 individuals at its Boston headquarters.
Factors contributing to failure
Haven faced challenges gaining momentum as key executives and consultants exited early in its lifecycle. Experts largely attributed its downfall to the difficulty of transforming the deeply rooted U.S. healthcare system. The company failed to capture sufficient market share necessary to pressure providers into reducing costs. According to Harvard Business Review, because insurers and providers remain financially successful under existing conditions, Haven lacked leverage to enforce market reforms. Additionally, its relatively small market footprint was further hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another contributing issue was that each founding company continued advancing their own separate healthcare projects independently, which created ambiguity about Haven’s purpose among employees and potential collaborators.