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Surgery will be a financial winner or loser under TEAM (Transforming Episode Accountability Model), a mandatory episodic payment model beginning in January 2026. Let’s be clear: TEAM requires a tectonic plate shift in managing cost and outcomes of surgical procedures for five types of procedures. To be on the winning side of this model, your hospital and physicians must prepare now to manage patients undergoing certain high-cost surgeries, defined by episodes starting from surgery to 30 days afterwards. Cost management will require collaboration between the hospital, specialists, primary care physicians, and post-surgical providers.
A large model, with 743 hospitals currently involved and that covers high profile procedures (CABG, upper and lower extremity joint replacements, spinal fusion, femur fracture reduction, and major bowel surgeries), TEAM will likely thrust hospitals and practices into the spotlight for performance, good or bad. You do not want to be on the losing end of TEAM.