Wellvana Announces CARE Award Winners at 2026 Accountable Care Symposium

Avera Health and Ardent Health among winners as Wellvana honors leaders in value-based care

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Wellvana, a national leader in value-based care enablement, hosted the 11th annual Accountable Care Symposium in Denver, Colorado last month. The event drew several hundred value-based care practitioners across health systems, community hospitals, and independent providers.

Designed to meet the needs of Wellvana's extensive and growing partner network, the Symposium emphasized peer-to-peer learning, value-based care advancement and policy considerations — anchored by a conversation between Director of CMMI Abe Sutton and former United States Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra. In addition to its educational bent, this year's Symposium recognized our CARE Award winners, honoring six Wellvana partner organizations that demonstrated exceptional performance across quality outcomes, cost management, and care delivery innovation in 2025. 

Standing for Champions of Accountability, Results, and Excellence, the CARE Awards replace the event's longtime Pioneer Awards and reflect a shift in how the company views its partner network: no longer trailblazers exploring uncharted territory, but proven standard-bearers demonstrating what accountable care looks like when executed with discipline and commitment to patients.

"Value-based care is no longer a frontier — it's the standard," said Aria Sameni, Chief Customer Officer at Wellvana. "The organizations we're honoring have earned this recognition through years of building real systems, real workflows, and real cultures committed to better patient outcomes."

"Symposium goes beyond connecting partners. It puts those driving real change in the spotlight so everyone can learn from their strategies," said Susan Diamond, Chief Executive Officer at Wellvana. "When a rural safety-net hospital cracks the code on readmissions, or a large health system makes smart investments in AI and technology that improves patient outcomes and provider job satisfaction, that knowledge benefits the whole network. Each of our CARE Award winners has raised the bar for what accountable care can look like, and we are proud to celebrate them."

Candidates were identified based on top quartile patient outcome metrics, with winners selected by a panel of Wellvana clinical and partner success leaders, who considered the intentional strategies that achieved the noted outcomes. Each organization was evaluated across multiple performance metrics including readmission rates, avoidable emergency department visits, wellness visit completion, clinical documentation accuracy, and shared savings performance.

Awards were given across two categories — Partner of the Year and Changemaker of the Year — with one winner per segment in each.

Partner of the Year Winners

This award recognizes organizations that performed at the highest level across every dimension of accountable care — quality, cost, clinical outcomes, and organizational culture.

Health System — Avera Health 

Avera Health earned Partner of the Year in the health system segment, ranking among the top 10 performers across Wellvana's entire network. Notably, they achieved a 12.4% readmission rate and a 20.6-day SNF length of stay across their MSSP patient population. Additionally, they advanced their care management program and expanded their Annual Wellness Visit completion at scale — all while navigating major change management.

"We're honored to receive the CARE Award recognizing Avera's commitment to accountability, results and excellence in patient care," said Dr. David Basel, Vice President of Clinical Quality for Avera Health. "This award reflects the dedication of caregivers who work to improve outcomes, strengthen care coordination and ensure patients receive compassionate, high-quality care across every setting. We're especially proud that our efforts in care management and preventive care are making a meaningful difference for the communities we serve."

Community Hospital — Monument Health 

Monument Health earned Partner of the Year in the community hospital segment, with an avoidable emergency department visit rate of 177.4 per 1,000 — a number that reflects the kind of primary care access and care coordination that keeps vulnerable populations connected to the right care in the right setting. Monument also launched a Next Day ED Follow-Up Program that produced measurable, sustained reductions in ED utilization. The organization's results were driven by workflow redesign, team training, and community partnerships — and demonstrate that disciplined execution, not market advantage, drives top performance.

Independent Practice — Khatib Family Practice 

Khatib Family Practice earned Partner of the Year in the independent practice segment, and as a practice, is a leading network performer on inpatient utilization, SNF, readmissions, and cancer episode efficiency. What distinguishes Khatib Family Practice is a deep understanding of why value-based care works: proactive outreach, intimate knowledge of each patient in the panel, and consistent, high-quality care.

Changemaker of the Year Winners

The Changemaker of the Year designation recognizes organizations that didn't just improve their results — they changed how they got them. It honors partners that looked at the way care was being delivered, saw room for improvement, and chose to do something about it.

Health System — Ardent Health 

Ardent Health earned Changemaker of the Year in the health system segment for a technology and culture investment that is redefining clinical efficiency. Specifically, Ardent paired AI technology investment with real-time performance dashboards enabling provider-level coaching, and ran systematic focus groups across annual wellness visits, transitional care management, and clinical documentation to build workflows that stick.

"It is truly an honor for Ardent Health to be recognized as a Changemaker within Wellvana's vibrant community," said Ardent's Eloy Sena, AVP, Value-Based Contracts and Operations.

"We have valued the opportunity to learn from and share best practices with peers across the network, and we appreciate Wellvana's partnership and stewardship as we continue advancing high-quality care for the patients and communities we serve."

Community Hospital — Greater Regional Health 

Greater Regional Health earned Changemaker of the Year in the community hospital segment for building a replicable, scalable model of continuous improvement from a rural safety-net hospital. The Iowa-based organization added a post-acute navigator nurse and a paramedicine program to extend care into the community, and applied diagnosis-level analysis for hypertension, provider-level comorbidity documentation engagement, and a committee-driven colorectal screening advancement initiative.

Independent Practice — Metroplex Care Group 

Metroplex Care Group earned Changemaker of the Year in the independent practice segment for building an organizational infrastructure that rivals organizations many times its size. Specifically, they partnered directly with a pharmacy operation to build medication management, polypharmacy review, and vaccination capabilities that most fragmented care settings cannot replicate — and complemented that with a dedicated care navigator, a focused care coordination team, and a quality director to embed continuous improvement into day-to-day operations.

About Wellvana

Wellvana is a national leader in value-based care enablement, serving more than 850,000 patients across 40 states. As the largest and top-performing hospital-led enabler in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), Wellvana's ACO partners generated $337 million in gross savings for Medicare in 2024. The company partners with health systems, community hospitals, and independent physicians to provide the clinical, operational, and financial infrastructure needed to deliver better outcomes for patients and better economics for providers. Follow Wellvana on LinkedIn and see how Wellvana makes it life-changing at wellvana.com. 

Media contact: Sage Sinner | [email protected]

SOURCE Wellvana