Preparing for Medicare TEAM (Transforming Episode Accountability Model): Key Strategies for Success

The Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) is a mandatory, longitudinal, episode-based accountability model for Medicare that will launch in 2026 and affect an estimated 741 acute care hospitals in the United States. TEAM includes certain elective orthopaedic procedures, including total hip and knee arthroplasty and spinal fusions, as well as urgent orthopaedic conditions like hip and femur fractures. In this review, we discuss the key tenets of TEAM, including its emphasis on preoperative optimization, care coordination, and health equity and the mechanism of reimbursement in this model. Using insights gained from prior, longitudinal, episode-based accountability models, we highlight opportunities for care transformation (clinical, surgical, and financial) that reduce patient risk, improve care quality, and reduce unnecessary healthcare utilization.