Going Back to the Future: How Aetna is Redefining Itself and the Current State of Value-Based Care | Dr. Ali Khan, Chief Medical Officer of Medicare, Aetna/CVS Health

Blake Madden
Blake Madden
April 21, 2026

What does it actually look like to run clinical strategy inside a vertically integrated giant when payor-provider trust is at a historic low?

Blake Madden sits down with Dr. Ali Khan, Chief Medical Officer for Aetna Medicare, to get the answer to this question and more. 

Dr. Khan has been employee 34 at Iora Health, a hospitalist/UM and CM medical director at CareMore, a division leader who scaled Oak Street Health from 23 to 75 clinics through the pandemic, and now he’s trying to make CVS’s vertical integration thesis actually work at the last mile.

Key Topics:

  • The real state of value-based care (spoiler: it’s not as far along as anyone claims),

  • Why Aetna is bringing nurses back to hospital bedsides,

  • How behavioral economics is driving member engagement, and

  • What AI should actually be used for in MA

Amazing learnings in healthcare operations from someone who’s practiced medicine and run P&Ls across every care model that matters.

00:00:00 – Introduction to Dr. Ali Khan and His Background

00:09:48 – The Evolution of Value-Based Care

00:18:45 – High Value Care vs. Value-Based Care

00:22:31 – Aetna’s Transformation and Integrated Care Models

00:32:20 – Behavioral Economics in Healthcare

00:35:16 – Creating a Connected Ecosystem

00:38:54 – Navigating Structural Challenges in Healthcare

00:45:20 – Building Trust Between Payers and Providers

00:49:13 – Collaborative Care Models for Better Outcomes

00:55:11 – Triage of Current Healthcare Challenges

01:00:21 – Lessons from Healthcare Acquisitions

Aetna Medicare: https://www.aetna.com/medicare.html 

Follow Dr. Ali Khan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alikhan28/

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Blake Madden
Blake Madden