AmazonBerkshireJP Healthcare: Think About Kaiser
By Clive Riddle, February 1, 2018
After Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase issued their
press release this week regarding their employer based
healthcare partnership, healthcare stock portfolios went into a tailspin
and a lot of smart people have had something to say about what this
venture might become. But where there is consensus is that what we do
know is what we don’t know, as right know the venture is a dot to dot
healthcare coloring book where no lines have been connected yet and we
haven’t even been issued our crayons.
The press release, while void of details, espouses technology solutions.
Learned speculation surrounds their replacing PBMs, going whole hog into
self-insurance, promoting telemedicine and much more.
The
New York Times quotes Segal Group’s Ed Kaplan: “Those are
three big players, and I think if they get into health care insurance or
the health care coverage space they are going to make a big impact.”
Paul Demko in Politico writes that
Amazon's new health care business could shake up industry after others
have failed.
But while citing some optimism, he also reports that ““ ‘We’ve seen
these deals before,’ said Sam Glick, a partner in the health and life
sciences division at Oliver Wyman. He cited Walmart and Intel as two
companies that have sought to provide health care for employees while
cutting out the insurance middleman. ‘It’s not news that jumbo employers
are frustrated with escalating costs and lousy experiences in the health
care system.’ “
A great
tweet from Yale Health Economist Zach Cooper tells us "I do hope
Amazon, JP Morgan, & Berkshire succeed. Health care is wildly
inefficient However, it’s a bit like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and
Partners Health coming out and saying they don’t like their computers so
they’re going to form a new IT company."
An Axios post by Sam Baker cautions “A
new health care behemoth? Not so fast.” He reminds us “We
don't know what they're even trying to do” and that “other big companies
have tried something similar.”
While like Sam Glick, we can point to less than stellar results from a
number of other corporate forays into this arena, if we peek further
back into time, we can also point to Kaiser, whom Sam Baker mentions in
his post.
Let’s take the
wayback machine to 80 years ago: In 1933, Sidney Garfield MD
establishes prepaid plan to fund care for his Contractors General
Hospital and clinic providing care to workers on the Los Angeles
Aqueduct. In 1938 Henry J Kaiser recruits Dr. Garfield to establish
prepaid clinic and hospital care for his Grand Coulee Dam project in
Washington. In 1942, at the request of Henry Kaiser, Dr. Garfield
expands program to Kaiser-managed shipyards and Kaiser’s steel mill. In
1945, Permanente Health Plans opens to the public in California, in
addition to serving Kaiser employees.
Kaiser and their clinically integrated health care is often cited now as
an example of a better system than much of the rest of American
healthcare. Perhaps Amazon et al should take a long look at the Kaiser
experience, and consider directly providing some levels of care enhanced
by technology, instead of just relying on technology alone. |
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