December 3, 2025
What’s new: The CJR Model generated $112.7 million in savings to Medicare while maintaining quality for over 98,000 knee and hip replacement patients across 323 hospitals in 2021-2023, according to the model’s Performance year 7 Evaluation.
Why it matters: Findings and lessons learned from the last 2 years of the CJR Model have informed the design of the Transforming Episode Accountability Model (TEAM) – a mandatory episode-based payment model for five surgical episodes.
What to expect: TEAM launches in January 2026 and will include enhanced protections for safety net hospitals; CJR final (Performance Year 8) evaluation results are anticipated for late 2026.
The big picture: By aligning financial incentives with health outcomes, episode-based models pursue the CMS Innovation Center strategic pillars of empowering people to achieve their health goals and protecting taxpayers.
Additional details: Savings in CJR were driven primarily by decreases in post-acute care spending while maintaining quality on claims-based outcomes (complications, mortality, unplanned readmissions, emergency department use). More information can be found in the Performance Year 7 Evaluation In-Depth Report. For an overview of the evaluation results, visit the At-a-Glance or Executive Summary.
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