Last week, Force Therapeutics joined hospital executives, policymakers, and care delivery innovators at the 2025 Orthopedic Value-Based Care (OVBC) conference. As always, OVBC offered an unfiltered look at the forces shaping the next era of care delivery–and the conversations in hallways, sessions, and roundtables revealed a lot about what hospital executives are anticipating in the months ahead.
We attended to engage directly with the leaders driving transformation in hospitals and health systems, gain insight into their priorities, and ensure our solutions stay aligned with where the market is headed.
Here’s what we heard.
1. Prepare for a New Economic Climate
There is ongoing uncertainty around tariffs and federal grants for medical research. Hospital leaders are navigating these potential changes while being asked to scale their operations. s. A focus of the talks was on operational excellence and efficiency with a renewed focus on sustainable care delivery.
2. Bundled Payments Aren’t Going Anywhere
Despite some speculation that payment models might shift under a new administration, longitudinal payment models–commonly referred to as “bundles”–remain a priority. The cost savings and quality gains from these models are hard to ignore, and many in attendance expect bundled payments to expand across more service lines in the coming years.
There was also notable discussion at OVBC about how language in this space is evolving. Terms like “bundle” and “value” have become somewhat polarizing, with some leaders moving away from them due to vagueness or overuse. Many now prefer to say “longitudinal payment models” to better reflect the structure and intent of these programs. Similarly, the term “value” is being used more deliberately–leaders emphasized the importance of clarifying who the value is being delivered to, with a strong push to keep patients at the center of that equation.
3. Data Is the Currency of the Future
As prospective reimbursement negotiations heat up with payers and employers, data is proving to be a key lever. Hospitals and health systems that can present strong longitudinal cost and quality data are better positioned to negotiate favorable rates, showcase quality, and defend their value.
4. ASCs and HOPDs Are Struggling with Anesthesia Staffing Gaps
Ambulatory surgical centers and hospital outpatient departments are both being hit by the national shortage of anesthesiologists. Staffing limitations are starting to affect procedure scheduling and overall capacity, pushing some systems to rethink their case distribution strategies.
5. TEAM Hospital Requirements Caught Many Off Guard
One of the more surprising updates at OVBC came from discussions around the CMS TEAM model. Hospitals participating in TEAM are required to designate a specific representative who will act as the primary liaison with CMS and manage access to the TEAM data dashboard. This dashboard is central to monitoring performance and understanding how hospitals are doing under the model.
The news caught many attendees off guard–several leaders shared that they hadn’t been formally informed of this requirement or didn’t realize the level of responsibility it entailed. The confusion points to a larger issue: as new value-based care models roll out, the burden of operationalizing them often falls to already-stretched teams, and key details can get lost in the shuffle.
This underscored a broader takeaway from the event: for programs like TEAM to succeed, organizations want and need clearer onboarding direction, more consistent communication, and practical tools that help hospitals implement requirements efficiently.
6. CMS Is Quiet–For Now
With a new administration settling in, CMS has been quiet about what’s coming next. Future programs and initiatives have not yet been rolled out, and leaders at the conference noted the lack of updates as a sign to stay flexible. While some feel stuck in a bit of a holding pattern, most expect CMS to re-engage later this year–with value-based care likely to remain a central focus.
At Force Therapeutics, we left OVBC energized and feeling connected to our customers. The themes we heard–cost containment, data-driven decision-making, care standardization–align closely with the problems we help hospitals solve every day. We’re committed to building tools that help teams thrive in this evolving landscape.
Let’s keep the conversation going. If you attended OVBC and want to swap insights or if you’re navigating any of the challenges above, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today.
