Wellvana Appoints Dr. David Rankey as Chief Medical Officer

Physician executive with 15 years at the forefront of value-based care joins Wellvana as company deepens clinical leadership to support its partners.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellvana, a national leader in value-based care enablement, today announced the appointment of David Rankey, MD, MPH, as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Rankey joins Wellvana from Optum Health, where he served most recently as National Chief Medical Officer of Clinical Excellence — overseeing a $700 million affordability portfolio for more than five million patients across 12 states.

Wellvana CEO Susan Diamond said the hire strengthens the deep clinical expertise the company is known for and brings a proven, forward-thinking voice to the organization's leadership team.

"David has been in the exam room, run scaled care programs with demonstrated impact, and built the kind of trust with providers that actually moves behavior," Diamond said. "That combination doesn't come along often, and it's exactly what our partners need from us."

Dr. Rankey spent more than a decade leading clinical strategy at Optum Health and Kaiser Permanente Washington, where he built and scaled programs across care management, population health analytics, pharmacy strategy, quality improvement, and provider engagement. Under his leadership, hospital admissions fell by as much as 20%, HEDIS star performance reached 4.5, and medical expense results consistently beat actuarial trend. He led care programs resulting in $100 million in annual savings at Kaiser Permanente. Before moving into health system leadership, Dr. Rankey practiced emergency medicine at Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers across the Pacific Northwest — giving him a frontline clinician's perspective on where care works, and where it doesn't.

"Value-based care is at an inflection point," said Dr. Rankey. "The models that are going to succeed aren't just the ones that save money on paper. They're the ones where providers feel like they're part of a movement — where the work they do every day truly connects to better outcomes for their patients. That's what drew me to Wellvana. The mission is right, the team is strong, and the timing is now."

The announcement comes as value-based care moves from proof of concept to proof of performance. The question is no longer whether the model works — it's which organizations have the clinical depth, the right partnerships, and the discipline to scale it. Wellvana, which generated $337 million in MSSP gross savings and operated the nation's top-ranked ACO by gross savings in performance year 2024, enters this new phase in a position of strength with Dr. Rankey's appointment deepening its clinical leadership as the company scales.

Dr. Rankey holds an MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan. He is based in Denver, Colorado, and will join Wellvana at the Accountable Care Symposium, May 12-14, where he will be leading a roundtable conversation with the winners of Wellvana's inaugural CARE Awards. 

About Wellvana
Wellvana is a leader in value-based care enablement, serving more than 850,000 patients across 40 states. With an expansive accountable care network of health systems, community hospitals and independent primary care practices, Wellvana helps future-forward organizations take the right risks, unlock new revenue, and deliver better patient outcomes. Follow Wellvana on LinkedIn and see how Wellvana unlocks the promise of value-based care at wellvana.com.

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SOURCE Wellvana