The Rainfall Health Podcast Transistor (https://transistor.fm) https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-rainfall-health-podcast From Regulatory Burden to Strategic Advantage – Your Executive Co-Pilot in Healthcare Compliance. New regulations can feel overwhelming—complex mandates, shifting timelines, and high stakes for getting it wrong. This podcast is built for healthcare executives who are done reacting and ready to lead. © 2026 Bettermeant Inc. 23c4063b-6d70-51ea-be09-808375699ef9 yes en Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:12:15 -0700 Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:13:11 -0700 https://www.rainfallhealth.com https://img.transistorcdn.com/XB_6Ihl2f0Mw2KHHVq-Wkd2GOkpyPH2UGrFPSnTe1Us/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kYjdm/NjhlODA1ZTVjMWZh/YzMxZTlkN2EwNWNl/ZmM4OC5wbmc.jpg The Rainfall Health Podcast https://www.rainfallhealth.com episodic Rainfall Health From Regulatory Burden to Strategic Advantage – Your Executive Co-Pilot in Healthcare Compliance. New regulations can feel overwhelming—complex mandates, shifting timelines, and high stakes for getting it wrong. This podcast is built for healthcare executives who are done reacting and ready to lead. From Regulatory Burden to Strategic Advantage – Your Executive Co-Pilot in Healthcare Compliance. healthcare compliance, CMS TEAM model, value-based care, health system, RAIN Compliant, TEAM Model Ahmed Qureshi kmcauliffe@rainfallhealth.com No No CMS TEAM Compliance Risks Hiding in Plain Sight: Gain Sharing, Data Governance & AI | Ep. 4 4 4 CMS TEAM Compliance Risks Hiding in Plain Sight: Gain Sharing, Data Governance & AI | Ep. 4 full 7b01304d-1cc7-4b2b-a5fe-af8cb5d13934 https://share.transistor.fm/s/d434fe38 CMS TEAM compliance isn't just about episode payments — the highest-stakes risks are the ones most hospitals aren't talking about yet: gain sharing agreements, data governance failures, and ungoverned AI. Rainfall Health's VP of Clinical Implementation Robby Wallace and VP of Compliance and Care Coordination Marla Merkle sit down with Paul Uhrig — former Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network, former Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, and member of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee — to break down what 721 mandated hospitals need to have documented, structured, and governed before regulators come knocking.

Paul has lived through the e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates firsthand. His message: the government follows through. History says so.

In this episode:
- Why gain sharing arrangements must be documented before care begins — not after
- How Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law apply to CMS TEAM downstream payments
- What the 2020–2021 OIG safe harbor for CMS-sponsored models actually requires
- Why your vendor's data use agreement may have loopholes you haven't found yet
- How information blocking and HIPAA create a compliance balancing act under TEAM
- Where AI governance is going wrong in health systems right now
- Why the e-prescribing mandate is the closest historical parallel to TEAM enforcement
- What Paul recommends every hospital prioritize in the next 90 days

Paul Uhrig is a healthcare attorney and digital health executive with decades of experience at the intersection of health law, regulatory compliance, and technology. He served as Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network and as Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, where he lived through the federal e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates in real time. Paul sits on the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health.

Rainfall Health is the first and only recognized standard for Medicare-mandated models like CMS TEAM. Our R.A.I.N. Compliant™ platform helps the 721 IPPS hospitals mandated under the Transforming Episode Accountability Model quantify, capture, and maximize Medicare reimbursements across all 5 surgical episodes and the mandatory 30-day post-discharge window — with R.A.I.N. Compliant status achievable in approximately 10 weeks.

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> CMS TEAM compliance isn't just about episode payments — the highest-stakes risks are the ones most hospitals aren't talking about yet: gain sharing agreements, data governance failures, and ungoverned AI. Rainfall Health's VP of Clinical Implementation Robby Wallace and VP of Compliance and Care Coordination Marla Merkle sit down with Paul Uhrig — former Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network, former Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, and member of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee — to break down what 721 mandated hospitals need to have documented, structured, and governed before regulators come knocking.

Paul has lived through the e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates firsthand. His message: the government follows through. History says so.

In this episode:
- Why gain sharing arrangements must be documented before care begins — not after
- How Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law apply to CMS TEAM downstream payments
- What the 2020–2021 OIG safe harbor for CMS-sponsored models actually requires
- Why your vendor's data use agreement may have loopholes you haven't found yet
- How information blocking and HIPAA create a compliance balancing act under TEAM
- Where AI governance is going wrong in health systems right now
- Why the e-prescribing mandate is the closest historical parallel to TEAM enforcement
- What Paul recommends every hospital prioritize in the next 90 days

Paul Uhrig is a healthcare attorney and digital health executive with decades of experience at the intersection of health law, regulatory compliance, and technology. He served as Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network and as Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, where he lived through the federal e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates in real time. Paul sits on the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health.

Rainfall Health is the first and only recognized standard for Medicare-mandated models like CMS TEAM. Our R.A.I.N. Compliant™ platform helps the 721 IPPS hospitals mandated under the Transforming Episode Accountability Model quantify, capture, and maximize Medicare reimbursements across all 5 surgical episodes and the mandatory 30-day post-discharge window — with R.A.I.N. Compliant status achievable in approximately 10 weeks.

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:08:20 -0700 Rainfall Health Rainfall Health 1544 CMS TEAM compliance isn't just about episode payments — the highest-stakes risks are the ones most hospitals aren't talking about yet: gain sharing agreements, data governance failures, and ungoverned AI. Rainfall Health's VP of Clinical Implementation Robby Wallace and VP of Compliance and Care Coordination Marla Merkle sit down with Paul Uhrig — former Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network, former Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, and member of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee — to break down what 721 mandated hospitals need to have documented, structured, and governed before regulators come knocking.

Paul has lived through the e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates firsthand. His message: the government follows through. History says so.

In this episode:
- Why gain sharing arrangements must be documented before care begins — not after
- How Anti-Kickback Statute and Stark Law apply to CMS TEAM downstream payments
- What the 2020–2021 OIG safe harbor for CMS-sponsored models actually requires
- Why your vendor's data use agreement may have loopholes you haven't found yet
- How information blocking and HIPAA create a compliance balancing act under TEAM
- Where AI governance is going wrong in health systems right now
- Why the e-prescribing mandate is the closest historical parallel to TEAM enforcement
- What Paul recommends every hospital prioritize in the next 90 days

Paul Uhrig is a healthcare attorney and digital health executive with decades of experience at the intersection of health law, regulatory compliance, and technology. He served as Chief Legal & Digital Health Officer at Bassett Healthcare Network and as Chief Administrative Officer at SureScripts, where he lived through the federal e-prescribing and meaningful use mandates in real time. Paul sits on the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health.

Rainfall Health is the first and only recognized standard for Medicare-mandated models like CMS TEAM. Our R.A.I.N. Compliant™ platform helps the 721 IPPS hospitals mandated under the Transforming Episode Accountability Model quantify, capture, and maximize Medicare reimbursements across all 5 surgical episodes and the mandatory 30-day post-discharge window — with R.A.I.N. Compliant status achievable in approximately 10 weeks.

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> cms team, cms team model, medicare reimbursement, hospital compliance, healthcare compliance, value-based care software, bundled payment analytics No Team from the Top: CMS TEAM and the Future of Medicare Payment Policy | Ep. 3 3 3 Team from the Top: CMS TEAM and the Future of Medicare Payment Policy | Ep. 3 full da46aeee-cee0-4537-92cb-dd56fd198b00 https://share.transistor.fm/s/f9f39f40 CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — former U.S. VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin joins Rainfall Health.

In this episode of Team from the Top, Christina Keny — VP of Clinical AI at Rainfall Health, registered nurse, and researcher with experience at UCSF, Stanford, and the VA — sits down with Dr. David Shulkin, the 9th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the only Cabinet member to serve under both President Obama and President Trump.

Dr. Shulkin has led healthcare from nearly every angle: as a physician, hospital CEO, federal policymaker, and now as an advisor and investor. In this conversation, he brings that full perspective to the CMS TEAM model — the first mandatory bundled payment program in Medicare history, which launched January 1, 2026, covering 721 hospitals across 188 metropolitan areas.

Overview:
→ Why CMS moved from voluntary to mandatory bundled payments — and why it won't reverse course
→ The Medicare trust fund math that makes value-based care politically inevitable
→ What operational capabilities will separate hospitals that capture TEAM upside from those that absorb losses
→ How AI and predictive analytics will reshape care coordination across the 30-day post-discharge episode
→ Where Medicare payment policy is headed over the next 5–10 years
→ The CJR-X expansion and which mandatory models are coming after TEAM
→ The one thing every hospital CEO needs to understand about Washington right now

The CMS TEAM model covers five high-cost surgical episodes — lower-extremity joint replacement, spinal fusion, coronary artery bypass graft, major bowel procedures, and hip/femur fracture treatment — and holds hospitals financially accountable for patient outcomes across a 30-day post-discharge window. For mandated hospitals, up to 20% of Medicare revenue is at stake.

ABOUT DR. DAVID SHULKIN
Dr. David Shulkin served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He previously served as Under Secretary for Health at the VA, leading the nation's largest integrated health system. A board-certified internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Shulkin has served as CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center and Morristown Medical Center, CMO at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and founder of DoctorQuality. He is currently President of Shulkin Solutions LLC, Senior Advisor at Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare, and Chair of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health. He is the author of It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country (PublicAffairs, 2019).

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more about Rainfall Health: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — former U.S. VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin joins Rainfall Health.

In this episode of Team from the Top, Christina Keny — VP of Clinical AI at Rainfall Health, registered nurse, and researcher with experience at UCSF, Stanford, and the VA — sits down with Dr. David Shulkin, the 9th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the only Cabinet member to serve under both President Obama and President Trump.

Dr. Shulkin has led healthcare from nearly every angle: as a physician, hospital CEO, federal policymaker, and now as an advisor and investor. In this conversation, he brings that full perspective to the CMS TEAM model — the first mandatory bundled payment program in Medicare history, which launched January 1, 2026, covering 721 hospitals across 188 metropolitan areas.

Overview:
→ Why CMS moved from voluntary to mandatory bundled payments — and why it won't reverse course
→ The Medicare trust fund math that makes value-based care politically inevitable
→ What operational capabilities will separate hospitals that capture TEAM upside from those that absorb losses
→ How AI and predictive analytics will reshape care coordination across the 30-day post-discharge episode
→ Where Medicare payment policy is headed over the next 5–10 years
→ The CJR-X expansion and which mandatory models are coming after TEAM
→ The one thing every hospital CEO needs to understand about Washington right now

The CMS TEAM model covers five high-cost surgical episodes — lower-extremity joint replacement, spinal fusion, coronary artery bypass graft, major bowel procedures, and hip/femur fracture treatment — and holds hospitals financially accountable for patient outcomes across a 30-day post-discharge window. For mandated hospitals, up to 20% of Medicare revenue is at stake.

ABOUT DR. DAVID SHULKIN
Dr. David Shulkin served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He previously served as Under Secretary for Health at the VA, leading the nation's largest integrated health system. A board-certified internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Shulkin has served as CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center and Morristown Medical Center, CMO at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and founder of DoctorQuality. He is currently President of Shulkin Solutions LLC, Senior Advisor at Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare, and Chair of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health. He is the author of It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country (PublicAffairs, 2019).

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more about Rainfall Health: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2026 23:54:15 -0700 Rainfall Health Rainfall Health 2290 CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — former U.S. VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin joins Rainfall Health.

In this episode of Team from the Top, Christina Keny — VP of Clinical AI at Rainfall Health, registered nurse, and researcher with experience at UCSF, Stanford, and the VA — sits down with Dr. David Shulkin, the 9th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the only Cabinet member to serve under both President Obama and President Trump.

Dr. Shulkin has led healthcare from nearly every angle: as a physician, hospital CEO, federal policymaker, and now as an advisor and investor. In this conversation, he brings that full perspective to the CMS TEAM model — the first mandatory bundled payment program in Medicare history, which launched January 1, 2026, covering 721 hospitals across 188 metropolitan areas.

Overview:
→ Why CMS moved from voluntary to mandatory bundled payments — and why it won't reverse course
→ The Medicare trust fund math that makes value-based care politically inevitable
→ What operational capabilities will separate hospitals that capture TEAM upside from those that absorb losses
→ How AI and predictive analytics will reshape care coordination across the 30-day post-discharge episode
→ Where Medicare payment policy is headed over the next 5–10 years
→ The CJR-X expansion and which mandatory models are coming after TEAM
→ The one thing every hospital CEO needs to understand about Washington right now

The CMS TEAM model covers five high-cost surgical episodes — lower-extremity joint replacement, spinal fusion, coronary artery bypass graft, major bowel procedures, and hip/femur fracture treatment — and holds hospitals financially accountable for patient outcomes across a 30-day post-discharge window. For mandated hospitals, up to 20% of Medicare revenue is at stake.

ABOUT DR. DAVID SHULKIN
Dr. David Shulkin served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He previously served as Under Secretary for Health at the VA, leading the nation's largest integrated health system. A board-certified internist and Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Shulkin has served as CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center and Morristown Medical Center, CMO at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and founder of DoctorQuality. He is currently President of Shulkin Solutions LLC, Senior Advisor at Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare, and Chair of the R.A.I.N. Advisory Committee at Rainfall Health. He is the author of It Shouldn't Be This Hard to Serve Your Country (PublicAffairs, 2019).

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Learn more about Rainfall Health: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> cms team, cms team model, medicare reimbursement, value-based care software, hospital compliance, bundled payment analytics, cjr-x No CMS TEAM & Surgical Quality: Dr. Hemant Keny on Reducing Readmissions | Ep. 2 2 2 CMS TEAM & Surgical Quality: Dr. Hemant Keny on Reducing Readmissions | Ep. 2 full e69ace03-1724-466f-aa84-d8a6a7390bf4 https://share.transistor.fm/s/184c60db The CMS TEAM model is now mandatory for 721 IPPS hospitals — covering 5 surgical episodes and a 30-day post-discharge window. For hospital CEOs and CFOs, that means up to 20% Medicare reimbursement impact and real penalties for non-compliance.

Rainfall Health CEO Eddie Qureshi sits down with Dr. Hemant Keny, Regional Clinical Leader for Surgical Quality and Safety at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, where he co-leads the KP NorCal Senior Surgical Care Program across 21 medical centers — one of the most scaled geriatric surgery programs in the country. Dr. Keny sits on the American College of Surgeons' Geriatric Surgery Verification leadership committee, serves on Rainfall's R.A.I.N. Advisory clinical subcommittee, and has been featured on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast (May 2025) and in General Surgery News (January 2026).

In this episode:
- What the CMS TEAM mandate requires and who is affected
- How surgical quality reduces hospital readmissions and length of stay
- Why value-based care ties Medicare reimbursement to patient outcomes
- How Kaiser verified 14 of 21 hospitals at the highest ACS geriatric surgery level
- What role AI plays in post-surgical episode of care management
- Why improving quality is the fastest path to lower cost
- How to drive CMS TEAM implementation when change management is the hardest part

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Composite Quality Score & quality measures explained: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/what-is-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> The CMS TEAM model is now mandatory for 721 IPPS hospitals — covering 5 surgical episodes and a 30-day post-discharge window. For hospital CEOs and CFOs, that means up to 20% Medicare reimbursement impact and real penalties for non-compliance.

Rainfall Health CEO Eddie Qureshi sits down with Dr. Hemant Keny, Regional Clinical Leader for Surgical Quality and Safety at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, where he co-leads the KP NorCal Senior Surgical Care Program across 21 medical centers — one of the most scaled geriatric surgery programs in the country. Dr. Keny sits on the American College of Surgeons' Geriatric Surgery Verification leadership committee, serves on Rainfall's R.A.I.N. Advisory clinical subcommittee, and has been featured on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast (May 2025) and in General Surgery News (January 2026).

In this episode:
- What the CMS TEAM mandate requires and who is affected
- How surgical quality reduces hospital readmissions and length of stay
- Why value-based care ties Medicare reimbursement to patient outcomes
- How Kaiser verified 14 of 21 hospitals at the highest ACS geriatric surgery level
- What role AI plays in post-surgical episode of care management
- Why improving quality is the fastest path to lower cost
- How to drive CMS TEAM implementation when change management is the hardest part

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Composite Quality Score & quality measures explained: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/what-is-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2026 23:31:52 -0700 Rainfall Health Rainfall Health 1906 The CMS TEAM model is now mandatory for 721 IPPS hospitals — covering 5 surgical episodes and a 30-day post-discharge window. For hospital CEOs and CFOs, that means up to 20% Medicare reimbursement impact and real penalties for non-compliance.

Rainfall Health CEO Eddie Qureshi sits down with Dr. Hemant Keny, Regional Clinical Leader for Surgical Quality and Safety at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, where he co-leads the KP NorCal Senior Surgical Care Program across 21 medical centers — one of the most scaled geriatric surgery programs in the country. Dr. Keny sits on the American College of Surgeons' Geriatric Surgery Verification leadership committee, serves on Rainfall's R.A.I.N. Advisory clinical subcommittee, and has been featured on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast (May 2025) and in General Surgery News (January 2026).

In this episode:
- What the CMS TEAM mandate requires and who is affected
- How surgical quality reduces hospital readmissions and length of stay
- Why value-based care ties Medicare reimbursement to patient outcomes
- How Kaiser verified 14 of 21 hospitals at the highest ACS geriatric surgery level
- What role AI plays in post-surgical episode of care management
- Why improving quality is the fastest path to lower cost
- How to drive CMS TEAM implementation when change management is the hardest part

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Composite Quality Score & quality measures explained: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/what-is-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
Learn more: https://www.rainfallhealth.com

]]> cms team, cms team model, medicare reimbursement, value-based care software, hospital compliance, geriatric surgery, bundled payment analytics No What Hospitals Need to Know: CMS TEAM Mandate 2026 | Ep. 1 1 1 What Hospitals Need to Know: CMS TEAM Mandate 2026 | Ep. 1 full 0afa8928-804e-45e1-bd01-cf0274d6b616 https://share.transistor.fm/s/2b8f1726 CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — what 721 mandated hospitals need to know before the CMS TEAM mandate reshapes surgical reimbursement.

The CMS TEAM mandate launched January 1, 2026, requiring 721 hospitals across 188 markets to participate in mandatory episode-based bundled payments — with no opt-out. Jessica Ohlssen (SVP of Revenue) and Robby Wallace, MSN, RN (VP of Clinical Implementation) from Rainfall Health are joined by Dr. Bradley Heiges, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Optim Orthopedics, to break down what CMS TEAM means for hospitals, physicians, and patients.

What's covered:
- The 5 surgical episode types and 3 payment tracks explained
- Pre-TEAM vs. post-TEAM: same patient, same surgery — $42K–$55K episode vs. $22K–$28K
- Physician blind spots, data, and the shift to collaborative care
- Real financial impact: one CA health system's $16.3M upside or $8.2M penalty annually

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide (features this same Randy case study): https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
More CMS TEAM articles & press: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/about/blogs-press-cms-team

Get your free TEAM financial analysis: johlssen@rainfallhealth.com
Learn more: rainfallhealth.com

]]> CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — what 721 mandated hospitals need to know before the CMS TEAM mandate reshapes surgical reimbursement.

The CMS TEAM mandate launched January 1, 2026, requiring 721 hospitals across 188 markets to participate in mandatory episode-based bundled payments — with no opt-out. Jessica Ohlssen (SVP of Revenue) and Robby Wallace, MSN, RN (VP of Clinical Implementation) from Rainfall Health are joined by Dr. Bradley Heiges, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Optim Orthopedics, to break down what CMS TEAM means for hospitals, physicians, and patients.

What's covered:
- The 5 surgical episode types and 3 payment tracks explained
- Pre-TEAM vs. post-TEAM: same patient, same surgery — $42K–$55K episode vs. $22K–$28K
- Physician blind spots, data, and the shift to collaborative care
- Real financial impact: one CA health system's $16.3M upside or $8.2M penalty annually

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide (features this same Randy case study): https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
More CMS TEAM articles & press: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/about/blogs-press-cms-team

Get your free TEAM financial analysis: johlssen@rainfallhealth.com
Learn more: rainfallhealth.com

]]> Tue, 18 Aug 2026 16:49:05 -0700 Rainfall Health Rainfall Health 2700 CMS TEAM model, Medicare reimbursement, and value-based care — what 721 mandated hospitals need to know before the CMS TEAM mandate reshapes surgical reimbursement.

The CMS TEAM mandate launched January 1, 2026, requiring 721 hospitals across 188 markets to participate in mandatory episode-based bundled payments — with no opt-out. Jessica Ohlssen (SVP of Revenue) and Robby Wallace, MSN, RN (VP of Clinical Implementation) from Rainfall Health are joined by Dr. Bradley Heiges, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Optim Orthopedics, to break down what CMS TEAM means for hospitals, physicians, and patients.

What's covered:
- The 5 surgical episode types and 3 payment tracks explained
- Pre-TEAM vs. post-TEAM: same patient, same surgery — $42K–$55K episode vs. $22K–$28K
- Physician blind spots, data, and the shift to collaborative care
- Real financial impact: one CA health system's $16.3M upside or $8.2M penalty annually

Read the full CMS TEAM Guide: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/cms-team/
Hospital Leader's Guide (features this same Randy case study): https://www.rainfallhealth.com/post/navigating-the-cms-team-mandate-ebook/
More CMS TEAM articles & press: https://www.rainfallhealth.com/about/blogs-press-cms-team

Get your free TEAM financial analysis: johlssen@rainfallhealth.com
Learn more: rainfallhealth.com

]]> cms team, cms team model, medicare reimbursement, value-based care software, hospital compliance, bundled payment analytics No