Strategist. Founder. A voice in healthcare.

Alex
Yarijanian.

Building better healthcare.
Challenging the usual thinking.

I build healthcare ventures, work through the economics behind access, and ask the questions that deserve a bigger conversation.

Explore my work ↓Book me to speak ↗

Alex Yarijanian seated in a gray blazer — Healthcare. Ventures. Perspective.

VALUE-BASED CARE ✦ PAYER CONTRACTING ✦ HEALTHCARE AI ✦ MARKET STRATEGY ✦ VALUE-BASED CARE ✦ PAYER CONTRACTING

On camera / VBCA

A different voice.
A closer look.

Healthcare is personal. Its business decisions should be, too. Get to know the voice behind Value-Based Care Advisory.

Watch the one-minute excerpt ↘

Explore the podcast ↗Speaking & events ↓

VALUE-BASED CARE ADVISORY01:00 / With audio

Selected work

Built in practice.
Shared in public.

Co-Founder & CEO01 / 03

Healthcare AI

Viper Health / viperOS

AI-powered contract intelligence that helps providers find missed revenue, understand fee schedules, and negotiate from evidence.

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Founder02 / 03

Advisory

Carenodes

Payer contracting and market-access strategy for providers and digital health organizations.

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Creator & Host03 / 03

Podcast

VBCA

Actionable conversations on payer strategy, value-based care, digital health, and the people affected by healthcare decisions.

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Browse all episodes ↗Featured: 5 Contract Clauses Killing Your Reimbursement ↗

Elsewhere online · An Alex Yarijanian website

Healthcare Wiki

healthcarewiki.com

Photography by Alex Yarijanian

Form & Presence.

The strength of stone. The softness of light. A collection of photographs by Alex Yarijanian, exploring the body, architecture, and the beauty of everyday places.

Layers of carved stone — Ephesus, Türkiye — 25
Layers of carved stoneEphesus, Türkiye

28
Facades in evening lightDublin, Ireland

Enter the exhibition

Track record

15+ years.
A career built on access.

Explore the leadership timeline Six chapters in healthcare ↓

012026—

Viper Health

Co-Founder & CEO

Building AI-powered payer contract intelligence, fee schedule management, and network reconciliation for provider organizations.

022025–26

Rocket Doctor

Contracting Leader

Led payer and provider contracting for U.S. virtual-care expansion from May 2025 to September 2026.

032022–26

Mahmee

Senior Advisor; National Head, Value-Based Purchasing & Contracting Negotiations

Directed payer engagement across 43 states and value-based maternal-care contracting associated with $58M in Medicaid savings.

042024–26

Daybreak Health

CalAIM Consultant; VP, Managed Care & Payer Contracting

Expanded payer partnerships supporting access to school-based youth mental health services.

052018—

Carenodes

Founder & CEO

Supported digital-health access in 50 states and D.C.; delivered 96,637 appointments from 2021 to 2022.

062016–18

Humana

Contracting Manager

Negotiated hospital and provider agreements and addressed Medicare Advantage network adequacy and directory accuracy.

Explore the complete career record Leadership, advisory & service ↓

Carenodes

Founder & CEO · December 2018–present

Delivered 96,637 appointments across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. in 2021–2022. Work across its managed care portfolio reached 51 million Americans.

Viper Health / viperOS

Co-Founder & CEO · April 2026–present

Productizing payer contracting experience into AI-powered contract intelligence, fee schedule management, and network reconciliation for IPAs, medical groups, and telehealth platforms.

Rocket Doctor

Contracting Leader · May 2025–September 2026

Led payer and provider contracting supporting U.S. expansion, sustainable virtual-care reimbursement, and payer partnerships.

Mahmee

National Head, Value-Based Purchasing & Contracting Negotiations · February 2024–July 2026

Previously Senior Advisor, Payer Contracting Negotiations, January 2022–February 2024. Directed payer engagement across 43 states, including Centene and Blue Shield; structured maternal-care contracting associated with $58 million in managed Medicaid savings.

Daybreak Health

VP, Managed Care & Payer Contracting · September 2024–April 2026

Previously CalAIM Consultant, March–September 2024. Negotiated payer agreements to expand access to school-based youth mental health services.

Neuroglee Therapeutics

Senior Vice President, Strategy · September 2021–September 2023

Led payer strategy, community and policy engagement for digital therapeutics and virtual cognitive care. Helped secure $12.3 million across two funding rounds and expand the payer network.

Insight Choices

Chief Operating Officer · January 2020–April 2021

Previously Vice President, Corporate Strategy, July 2019–January 2020. Led modernization and growth: average payer reimbursements increased 68%, monthly revenue exceeded $2 million, and preservice collections rose from 31% to 94%.

UCSF Health Hub

Strategic Advisor · October 2019–February 2021

Advised digital health companies on payer, employer, and provider contracting and sustainable healthcare business models.

Value Based Care Advisory

Chief Strategy Officer · November 2018–November 2023

Built collaboration among investors, innovators, advisers, and healthcare stakeholders working to advance value-based care.

Humana

Contracting Manager · December 2016–December 2018

Negotiated hospital, provider-group, and risk-based agreements for commercial and Medicare Advantage products. Reduced Medicare Advantage provider-directory inaccuracy by 37.1%.

Optum / naviHealth

Regional Network Manager · March–December 2016

Managed bundled-payment network work across 14 hospitals and more than 50 post-acute providers, covering 48 at-risk DRGs and 90-day episodes. Program outcomes included $1.1 million in distributed shared savings.

HCA Healthcare

Network Development Manager · March–August 2016

Used data analytics to inform hospital decisions and optimize post-acute provider networks.

Eldorado Community Service Centers & American Health Services

Director of Managed Care · June 2013–March 2016

Led contracting and payer operations for 28 clinics in California and Texas. Work included managed Medicare growth, reimbursement audits, telemedicine expansion, and HEDIS improvement.

Cardborigami

Board Chair · January 2010–January 2014

Worked with the CEO and board to connect shelter provision with population-health strategies.

Public-health service

North Carolina Department of Justice · Healthcare Committee Member · October 2021–July 2024

Florida Department of Health / Consortium for a Healthier Miami-Dade · Elder Issues Committee · March 2022–March 2024

Education & languages

MS, Healthcare Administration · California State University, Long Beach · 2015–2017

BA, Psychology · University of California, Riverside · 2011–2013

English, Persian, and Armenian · Native or bilingual proficiency

Selected honors

Albert B. Cutter Memorial Scholarship
Robert and Kathleen Grey Endowed Scholarship
Toyota Innovations Grant
Nonprofit Organizational Capacity Building Grant

Perspective

“I've never been able to look at scarcity or access to basic needs as somebody else's problem.”

I came to Los Angeles from Iran as a refugee in 1998, after my family passed through Austria. The contrast I saw on arrival—wealth and homelessness side by side—shaped how I think about access to care.

That perspective has followed me from nonprofit work and managed care for 28 clinics across California and Texas to Medicare Advantage contracting at Humana. I’ve spent more than fifteen years building provider networks, negotiating payer agreements, and making ambitious care models work in practice.

Today, I lead Carenodes, build contract intelligence through Viper Health / viperOS, and host Value-Based Care Advisory. My previous leadership work spans Rocket Doctor, Mahmee, and Daybreak Health. My work as an operator, strategist, speaker, and builder is guided by a simple question: who does the system still fail to reach?

MS Healthcare Administration · CSULB · 4.0 GPABA Psychology · UC Riverside · Summa Cum LaudeFormer Forbes Business Council member · Published healthcare contributor

Across Carenodes and leadership roles in maternal health, youth mental health, and managed care, my focus is the infrastructure behind access: payer contracts, provider networks, and sustainable care delivery.

Read the full story ↗

Alex Yarijanian in front of a blackboard with GTM written in chalk

Community & service

Access starts
with inclusion.

My work extends beyond payer agreements to nonprofit leadership, public-health committees, and programs for people too often excluded from care.

Cardborigami

Co-founder and former Board Chair of the Los Angeles nonprofit creating portable, temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness.

Equity in Los Angeles

Engagement with PledgeLA and healthcare reintegration programs through Carenodes, connecting community needs with the infrastructure to meet them.

Policy & public health

Service spanning healthcare committees, consumer advocacy, and national coalitions focused on access and mental health.

Explore community leadership ↗

51MAmericans reached

$58MMedicaid savings structured

134Providers managed

40+Speaking engagements

On stage / Watch the talk

Speaking

Ideas that
move rooms.

More than 40 speaking engagements with health systems, payers, and digital health innovators. Talks draw on the contracts, launches, and tradeoffs behind the headlines.

Payer Contracting & Network Management
AI in Healthcare Operations
Value-Based Care Infrastructure
Healthcare Administrative Equity
Revenue Cycle & Denial Prevention
Behavioral Health Access

Ask about speaking ↗

Watch the webinar opener · 20 seconds · Silent preview

HBMA · Recorded webinar

Your Billing Problem
Started in the Contract.

What Revenue Cycle Leaders Need to Know Before a Claim Is Ever Filed

August 12, 2026 · 60 minutes · 1 CHBME credit

Identify the contract provisions behind systematic billing errors, denials, and underpayments—and learn how to address them before they affect cash flow.

Listen to the full recording ↗

Upcoming speaking · Kaneohe, Hawaii

Aloha!!

During my time at Humana, I was trying to pass network adequacy on Maui, we needed one specialist. Every other physician in that specialty had already been hired by Kaiser Permanente.

There was exactly one independent left.

I'll never forget that conversation. An elderly gentleman working out of his home. His wife was the front desk, the back office, and the care coordinator. He had every reason to be skeptical of managed care, and he told me why.

Most revenue cycle teams negotiate as if the contract is the end of the conversation. It's the beginning of it.

After 600+ payer-provider contracts, the pattern is consistent: the organizations that do well aren't the ones with the sharpest dispute process — they're the ones who understood the payer's incentives before they signed.

I'll be unpacking that at the HFMA Hawaii Chapter 2026 Revenue Cycle Seminar on November 10 in Kaneohe.

Details and registration ↗View the LinkedIn post ↗

Recognition

Press, awards,
and ideas.

● Press2026

A profile tracing the experiences and ideas behind Carenodes and its approach to healthcare access.

VoyageLARead the profile ↗

● Award2022

Outstanding Leadership recognition for Alex, alongside a Best Companies award for Carenodes at Health 2.0.

Health 2.0Watch the award video ↗

● Nominee2026

Alex was listed among the individual nominees, and Carenodes among the organization nominees, for the Healthcare Leadership Awards.

Los Angeles Business JournalView the nominee list ↗

● Speaking2026

Presented “Your Billing Problem Started in the Contract,” a revenue cycle webinar on the payer terms behind denials and underpayments.

Healthcare Business Management AssociationListen on VBCA ↗

● Speaking2026

Joined the inaugural Inland Empire Health Policy Summit conversation on access, workforce resilience, and health equity.

AltaMed Health Policy SummitRead the event recap ↗

● Media2026

Hosts conversations that turn payer strategy, value-based care, and healthcare innovation into practical decisions.

VBCA PodcastExplore the podcast ↗

Explore awards, coalitions, talks & publications ↗

Writing & media

Writing & media.

Essays, talks, press, and podcast episodes on value-based care, payer-provider strategy, and healthcare access.

Photos from the AltaMed Inland Empire Health Policy Summit, including Alex Yarijanian with fellow attendees

Talk July 30, 2026

Building the Bridge: AltaMed Inland Empire Health Policy Summit

A conversation on healthcare access, workforce resilience, and health equity in the Inland Empire. The inaugural summit brought together healthcare leaders and community stakeholders to build a healthier, more connected region.

See the event recap ↗