Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Advancing Value-Based Care at Humana with Alex Ding, MD
Feb 16, 2026
Alex Ding, MD, Enterprise Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Humana and practicing radiologist focused on healthcare innovation. He discusses Humana’s value-based care findings. Topics include how primary care continuity links to fewer admissions and ED visits. He covers payer-provider alignment, reducing administrative burden, and priorities for scaling outcomes-driven care.
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Value-Based Care Defined By Outcomes
- Humana defines value-based care as realigning healthcare around outcomes, quality, and experience rather than volume.
- The approach enables proactive whole-person care using data, care teams and longitudinal relationships to prevent problems.
Primary Care Continuity Drives Outcomes
- Continuity and intensity of primary care drive fewer hospital admissions and ED visits in value-based arrangements.
- Strong therapeutic relationships and earlier interventions reduce downstream health crises and utilization.
Remove Friction To Enable Transformation
- Reduce administrative friction and improve data liquidity to help practices fully adopt value-based care.
- Align incentives so clinicians stop operating with "one foot in each canoe" between fee-for-service and value models.