Our researchers have been following the growth of remote patient monitoring (RPM) utilization, driven in response to reimbursement expansion. CMS expanded reimbursements for remote monitoring in 2019, 2020, and again in 2022 by adding five new codes to cover remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM).¹ Additional policy changes enacted in 2024 indicate a dynamic and encouraging policy landscape for patient monitoring reimbursement²:

• Providers can now bill for RPM or RTM alongside certain other care management services for the same patient, such as chronic care management (CCM) and transitional care management (TCM).
• Rural health centers (RHCs) and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) can now bill separately for RPM and RTM services.

These changes give healthcare providers more flexibility to choose the right combination of care management services for their patients, while also offering an avenue for RHCs and FQHCs to garner additional revenue from these services. CMS has reiterated that PHE flexibilities are set to expire 2024, but they have consistently expanded reimbursement policies for RPM.

Medicare claims have increased pointing to the market capture and value of patient monitoring technology.³ Medicare payments for the four most common remote monitoring billing codes rose from $5.5 million in 2019 to $101.4 million in 2021, the latest year we have available data. The inclusion of RTM codes in the reimbursement system offers new opportunities for financial compensation.

We were curious to analyze how RTM utilization grew following CMS reimbursement, especially the conditions and therapeutic areas where RTM is most prevalent. Read on to see what we found in our analysis, as well as what we think it means for healthcare stakeholders and the future of RTM technology.