The 5 new remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) codes are in the 2022 CMS physician fee schedule and they represent a major expansion in the reimbursement for remote care.
As defined by CMS, remote therapeutic monitoring, or RTM, refers to the remote monitoring and management of non-physiological patient data. This includes general medicine care, such as the status of a patient’s musculoskeletal or respiratory system. It also includes the adherence and response to medication and therapy.
Previous codes for the reimbursement of remote patient monitoring were different. RPM codes (sometimes called remote physiologic monitoring) allows only for the monitoring of physiological data such as glucose levels, heart rate, or other vital signs.
RPM is reimbursed as E/M codes - Evaluation and Management - so it's also only billable by a physician or their staff under general supervision.
The new RTM codes billing as "general medicine" make them useful outside of conventional clinical settings, and generally mean that the range of professionals who can use them potentially include PTs, OTs, NPs, SLPs, nurses, aides and clinical social workers.
Exer is working with various types of healthcare professionals - notably PTs and OTs - to submit reimbursement requests for a wide array of patient episodes.
RPM is also reimbursed as “evaluation and management (E/M),” meaning it can only be billed by a physician, although it can be performed by clinical staff under general supervision. The new RTM codes, however, allow reimbursement on a ”general medicine” basis, outside of conventional clinical settings. That means that reimbursement is through the billing practitioner(s), which can potentially include a much wider range of professionals like PTs and PTAs, OTs and OTAs, NPs and Pas, SLPs, nurses, aides and clinical social workers.