By David Benoit and Anna Wilde Mathews

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is trying again to transform U.S. healthcare, just months after ending a joint venture with Amazon.com Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. that was supposed to do the same.

The nation's biggest bank is building a new unit that will work on health initiatives for its employees and invest $250 million in startups and technologies meant to make their healthcare more efficient and effective. The unit, dubbed Morgan Health, aims to create a model of employer-sponsored healthcare that results in better and more equitable care at a lower cost.

That is similar to the original goal for Haven, the venture that JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon launched with fellow CEOs Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett to much fanfare in 2018.

Haven disbanded in February. The three companies struggled to create a system that worked for all of their hundreds of thousands of employees in different jobs across the U.S. A planned data-sharing effort that was meant to help lower costs ran into privacy barriers.

Mr. Dimon includes the healthcare system on his list of policy failures that he says are a drag on the U.S. economy. The bank covers the healthcare for about 285,000 employees and dependents in the U.S.

The bank hired Dan Mendelson to run the new unit. Mr. Mendelson started and ran a consulting firm called Avalere Health, which is now owned by the health-data company Inovalon. He worked for the White House's Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton administration.

The unit's focus includes improving primary-care services; helping employees navigate the healthcare system to get the best and most cost-effective treatment; maternity care; and mental health. In an interview, Mr. Mendelson said it is too soon to lay out timing or highlight specific planned efforts.

"Our goal is to improve quality, improve equity and make sure that costs to employees are kept in check," he said.

Many large U.S. employers and insurers are working on similar goals.

Walmart Inc. has for years offered employees designated centers for certain high-cost procedures, such as spinal surgeries. Recently the retailer has worked to steer workers toward healthcare providers that it believes are more efficient and high-quality.

Amazon in March announced that a telehealth service it launched for employees at its Seattle headquarters would expand nationwide and be opened to other companies. Walmart has announced plans to offer nationwide virtual healthcare services.

Unlike Haven, the new unit isn't starting from scratch. JPMorgan executives are pursuing partnerships with insurers and other industry players. They plan to invest in startups that can help JPMorgan employees right away but also have growth potential, said Peter Scher, a vice chairman at the bank.

"We're going to be looking for ways to begin to put some wins on the board for JPMorgan Chase employees and, for longer term, for Americans who get their care through their employers," Mr. Scher said.

Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com and Anna Wilde Mathews at anna.mathews@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-20-21 0914ET