Amazon has chosen its initial partners for its foray into healthcare—Berkshire Hathaway, the third largest public company in the world, and JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the world.

Their mission is ambitious: to check the rise in health costs while concurrently enhancing patient satisfaction and outcomes. Can these three companies, none of which have expertise in healthcare, truly make a dent in healthcare costs? I would argue yes.

Here are three reasons why this partnership is fertile ground to realign innovation efforts with affordability and a long-term focus on health:

  1. Self-insured employers play by different rules-The partnership’s first priority, as JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon has stated, is to “create solutions that benefit our U.S. employees, their families, and potentially, all Americans.” Many have speculated this equates to covering their employees in a self-insured manner first.
  2. Integration of new resources and capabilities- Each partner brings with it an abundance of resources and capabilities that when combined, hold the potential to create a unique model for purchasing and delivering patient care.
  3. Ability to scale quickly-Once a sustainable model emerges from the partnership’s self-insured employer ecosystem, don’t expect it to remain within the confines of the partnership for long.

Read the full article about Amazon's partnership by Ryan Marling at The Christensen Institute.