Healthcare/biotech companies typically have a CMO position (chief medical officer) which carries a lot of weight. I'm surprised that's not the way they went with a surgeon.

In an insurance context a CMO would be someone orchestrating coverage policy rather than serving in an advisory capacity iirc. It's a different role for the title.

Yeah that's fair. To be perfectly honest, everything being equal, I'll defer to Bezos and the like in choosing people for high level management positions.

I agree, this is exactly where I’d have hired him. He’s be perfect as the soul and conscience of this company.

They probably offered that to him.

The CEO cannot be a figurehead.

I really agree with the top commenter and am totally flumoxed as to how Buffet et. al. can back this.

Not only is this going to require 'CEO abilities' - it's also kind of a 'mega corporate startup' - which is another thing very difficult to achieve.

Amazon is ruthlessly operational, by the numbers etc. - this will collide with medical bureaucracy pretty hard ... it's almost as though you want an outsider ...

Or, to buy a small company or two and combine them, a small team with the 'right chops' and then back them with scale, financing etc..

Agreed – there's so much complexity that wrangling it is it's own effort, worthy of delegation to a supremely skilled and experienced operator.

If _all_ this company did was wrangle the complexity of the healthcare system, however, they wouldn't be a step function better than anything else.

For the deeper, more radical changes, you need a visionary at the helm.

Of course, Atul will need to be able to effectively recruit & work with a stellar team to fill the gaps you mention.