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

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

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

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

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

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.