If TEAM has your hospital searching for an evidence-based toolkit to improve surgical outcomes and reduce recovery time, participating hospitals and their surgical teams should pay heed to ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery) protocols. The guidelines are tailored to more than twenty types of surgery as well as anesthesia and intensive care. They have been […]
The 2026 CMS PFS Final Rule: The 5 Ways CMS Aims to Control Total Cost of Care
The CMS PFS Final Rule is out . . . early? If you’re wondering how, in the midst of the Shutdown, a 2,375-page Rule could be released, the answer is simple: most of the proposals from this summer were finalized as is. There are always exceptions, but the big takeaway is that this Rule solidifies […]
Providers: Collaborate or Lose Under TEAM Risk-Based Payment for Specialty Procedures
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 […]
Let’s Put an End to What Blocks Providers and Patients from Controlling Health Care Costs
We often blame providers for not controlling health care costs. We also put the onus on patients who overuse care inappropriately and make bad choices. But the fact is that control of health care costs is extremely complicated, and we have effectively blocked both providers and patients from controlling health care costs. Since the birth […]