APMA Comments on TEAM and Potential ASC Expansion

APMA recently submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in response to the FY 2027 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) proposed rule regarding the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) and related Requests for Information on potential expansion into ambulatory surgical center (ASC) settings.

Because TEAM includes lower extremity joint replacement procedures performed by podiatrists, APMA emphasized the importance of protecting access to care for high risk lower-extremity patients, accounting for patient complexity in episode-based payment models, and ensuring podiatric physicians have meaningful opportunities to inform future model design and evaluation.

APMA also urged CMS to proceed cautiously before expanding TEAM into ASC settings and to carefully assess the potential operational, financial, and patient access implications of any future expansion.

Read this and all past comment letters in at https://www.apma.org/commentletters.