Diverging Opinions on TEAM: What Stakeholders Across the Industry Are Saying
- SolvEdge
- June 05, 2025
- 8 mins read
As the healthcare industry prepares for full TEAM Mandate implementation in 2025, one thing is clear: not everyone agrees on what it means — or how ready we are. Some see TEAM as a much-needed evolution of bundled care. Others fear it’s a compliance minefield that shifts risk without fixing structural inefficiencies. In this blog, we bring together the real voices of the TEAM era: hospital executives, compliance officers, payers, policymakers, and patient advocates — each with a distinct perspective on this ambitious value-based care overhaul.
Providers on the Frontline: Opportunity or Overreach?
Hospitals and health systems are split. Many academic medical centers and large IDNs are cautiously optimistic. Smaller hospitals and rural facilities? More skeptical.
✦ Key Provider Viewpoints:
- Optimistic Leaders:
“This could finally give us the financial flexibility to invest in whole-person care — if CMS follows through on payment parity.”
— COO, 300-bed nonprofit hospital, Midwest - Concerned Clinicians:
“We’re being asked to collect more data, take on more risk, and manage downstream complications. But where’s the staffing support?”
— Orthopedic Surgeon, Southern U.S. - Neutral Observers:
“We’ll go where the policy leads — but right now, the rules are still evolving, and it’s hard to operationalize uncertainty.”
— VP of Quality, East Coast teaching hospital
Compliance Leaders: A Growing Governance Burden
For compliance officers, TEAM represents a complex new landscape of reporting timelines, audit trails, and risk
adjustment scrutiny.
✦ Concerns from the Field:
- Fragmented PROMs capture and submission workflows
- Lack of clarity on how CMS will enforce crosswalks and attribution
- New penalties tied to both data latency and accuracy
The TEAM Mandate is forcing us to treat data governance like infection control — system-wide, measurable, and audit-ready.
– Compliance Director, Regional Health System
Revenue Cycle & Risk Leaders: “The Future Is HCC-Driven
For revenue cycle teams and risk adjustment analysts, TEAM is a coding revolution in disguise. The expanded use of HCC crosswalks and social drivers of health changes how reimbursement is calculated.
✦ Risk Strategy Highlights:
- More emphasis on pre-op risk scoring using structured HCCs
- New flags for incomplete or inconsistent documentation
- Tighter integration between coding, billing, and population health analytics
Under TEAM, risk adjustment is not a backend process — it’s a pre-visit priority.
– Director of Risk Adjustment, Multistate Health System
Payers & Payer-Providers: Measuring Value, But at What Cost?
Payers generally support TEAM’s goal of improving episodic care value — but provider alignment and data access remain hurdles.
✦ Payer Insights:
- Positive about standardization of quality measures
- Concerned about hospital pushback on bundled payment rates
- Watching closely how TEAM Connect handles data sharing and reconciliation
Get Your HCC Crosswalks TEAM-Ready
We want providers to succeed — but we also need visibility into what’s driving those outcomes. TEAM must foster collaboration, not just compliance.
– VP, Network Strategy, National Payer
Policy Analysts & Think Tanks: Cautious Optimism, with Caveats
Health policy experts view TEAM as a potential next-generation value-based care model, but one that could strain system capacity.
✦ Policy Perspectives:
- CMS is betting big on digital compliance infrastructure
- Risk adjustment complexity could hurt safety-net providers
- Success will depend on flexibility, technical support, and patient access
TEAM will work if it doesn’t just measure what hospitals do — but why they do it. That’s where real reform lives.
– Senior Fellow, Healthcare Innovation Policy Institute
SolvEdge Insight: Bridging the Gaps in Stakeholder Readiness
At SolvEdge, we work with diverse stakeholders across the TEAM spectrum — from compliance to coding, and quality to analytics.
Here’s how we help organizations navigate TEAM complexity:
- TEAM readiness scorecards for executives and operational teams
- Data validation and integrity tools for PROMs and HCC reporting
- Automation workflows for TEAM Connect submissions
- Audit trail dashboards that track every data point and its source
We don’t just help hospitals comply — we help them lead
Conclusion: Unity in Complexity
Diverging opinions on the TEAM Mandate are a sign of a healthy, adaptive healthcare system. The truth? All voices are right — in part. Success under TEAM will require:
- Executive vision
- Clinical alignment
- Risk strategy
- Compliance discipline
Listening to the full spectrum of perspectives can help hospitals prepare smarter, faster, and stronger.
Ready to align your hospital with the realities of TEAM?
Schedule a free multi-department readiness session with SolvEdge today. We’ll help you unite strategy, data, and compliance under one TEAM-ready platform.