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Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM): What Hospitals Need to Know

Overview

The Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) is part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center’s efforts to improve care delivery and reduce costs. It focuses on enhancing teamwork within healthcare settings to improve patient outcomes, streamline processes, and ensure better coordination among different healthcare providers. The mandatory, 5-year episode-based TEAM model starts January 1, 2026, and ends December 31, 2030. The following highlights key milestones hospitals should know about assessing and working with long-term care (LTC) partners—such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home healthcare services—to implement the CMS Innovation TEAM Model. For further details, it’s essential to explore the CMS Innovation Center’s full documentation.

TEAM Schedule Overview

  • Model announcement: August 2024

  • Start date: January 1, 2026

  • End date: December 31, 2030

2025 Preparation Period Timeline

Hospitals will have 17 months to prepare for the TEAM model implementation. This preparation period begins in 2025 and continues into early 2026.

Q1 (January - March) – Education & Training

Hospitals should focus on educating staff and implementing necessary systems throughout 2025 to prepare for the model’s launch

• Explore Centers Health Care’s newly launched educational hub on TEAM for hospitals
• Begin staff education programs on TEAM model requirements, highlighting its goals of improving care quality, patient outcomes, and cost efficiency

Hospitals should work to develop partnerships with long-term care providers to prepare for shared financial risk and care redesign strategies

• Review and analyze current long-term care partnerships
• Evaluate and select high-quality long-term care facilities in your area; Look for multidisciplinary teams of healthcare professionals that collaborate to provide comprehensive, person-centered care to residents
• Begin discussions with potential long-term care partners
• Finalize agreements with selected long-term care partners

Hospitals should prioritize improving performance on the three quality measures that will be used in TEAM

• Evaluate your hospital’s readmission rates and quality metrics and consider appointing a dedicated TEAM coordinator to ensure milestones and metrics are being met based on the following:
o Hybrid Hospital-Wide Readmission Measure with Claims and Electronic Health Record Data
o CMS Patient Safety and Adverse Events Composite (CMS PSI 90)
o Hospital-Level, Risk-Standardized Patient-Reported Outcomes Following Elective Primary Total Hip and/or Total Knee Arthroplasty (THA/TKA)
• Start implementing standardized care protocols for TEAM model episodes
• Initiate performance review meetings with selected top-tier long-term care partners

Hospitals should work on improving care coordination and transition processes, particularly for the five-episode categories included in TEAM: CABG, LEJR, SHFFT, spinal fusion, and major bowel procedures

• Develop strategies for improving care coordination with long-term care partners
• Conduct final preparations for TEAM model launch
• Establish regular communication channels with long-term care partners
• Key Date:
o December 31, 2025: This marks the end of the preparation period, as hospitals must be ready for the TEAM model launch on January 1, 2026.

How to Partner with Us

To get started, contact:

Steve Carr
Chief Sales Officer
scarr@centershealthcare.org