RTM: Remote therapeutic monitoring explained
What is RTM (Remote Therapeutic Monitoring) and how can I use it in my practice?
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) refers to the use of medical devices to remotely manage and monitor non-physiological data relating to the musculoskeletal and respiratory systems. Throughout the patient plan of care, RTM CPT codes allow for reimbursement by Medicare and other commercial insurances to track therapy adherence and response through self-reported and digitally uploaded data. The code set was expanded to 10 codes in the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule. Learn more about the specifics of these codes directly from the APTA here.
Physitrack tools available for RTM use:
- Exercise Program Prescription - find all the support you need regarding how to prescribe programs for your patients.
- Patient Reported Adherence and Tracking - Find out more about patient reported outcome measures (PROMs). These can be tracked through Physitrack to monitor your patients progress with therapy.
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Telehealth - All Physitrack accounts come with basic Telehealth. This logs and records call times and duration, which can support RTM management code documentation.
Note: to qualify for RTM management codes, the patient interaction must be a real-time synchronous communication — a live phone or video call. Secure messaging alone does not qualify. There is an available upgrade to Telehealth Pro if you would like additional features.
RTM requirements and using Physitrack features for success:
Proper coding is required for reimbursement of RTM services including:
a) Initial set up and patient education of medical equipment (i.e. show the patient how to use Physitrack and PhysiApp)
b) Monitoring the patient for at least 2 days per 30-day monitoring period. Device supply codes are tiered: 2–15 days of patient engagement qualifies for 98985, and 16 or more days qualifies for 98977. Each day a patient engages with their programme in PhysiApp counts as a monitored day — one activity is enough. Note: activity accessed via EasyLink or PDF does not count.
c) At least one real-time, synchronous interaction with the patient per calendar month (in person, phone, or video call) for management codes. 10 or more minutes of management time qualifies for 98979; 20 or more minutes qualifies for 98980. Secure messaging alone does not qualify.
The following CPT codes can be used for reimbursement purposes for the musculoskeletal system. Patient data collected in Physitrack can be used to support the documentation of these codes:
- 98975
- Used for initial set-up and patient education in the use of eligible devices.
- Used only ONCE per episode of care.
- Bill only after at least 2 days of monitoring have occurred.
- 98985
- Used when 2–15 days of patient data transmission occurred in a 30-day period.
- Document assignment of HEPs, PROMs, and patient education during this period.
- 98977
- Used when 16 or more days of patient data transmission occurred in a 30-day period.
- Document assignment of HEPs, PROMs, and patient education during this period.
- Note: 98985 and 98977 are not additive — only one applies per 30-day period.
- 98979
- Used for 10–19 minutes of management time in a calendar month.
- Requires at least one real-time synchronous interaction (in person, phone, or video) with the patient or caregiver.
- Do not report unless a full 10 minutes of monitoring has occurred.
- 98980
- Used for the first 20 minutes of management time in a calendar month.
- Requires at least one real-time synchronous interaction (in person, phone, or video) with the patient or caregiver.
- Do not report unless a full 20 minutes of monitoring has occurred.
- Note: 98979 and 98980 are not additive — if 20 minutes is reached, report 98980 only.
- 98981
- Used for each additional 20 minutes of management time in a calendar month beyond the first 20 minutes.
- Report the same kind of measures as 98980 for the additional time.
Documentation of RTM Activity
If Physitrack integrates with your EMR (see integrations HERE):
- All the data described above including telehealth stamps and monitoring of HEPs will seamlessly integrate into your patients chart. This will require no additional work on your part for support of RTM billing.
If Physitrack does not integrate with your EMR
- You may copy a PDF of an assigned exercise program from your Physitrack account into your EMR. See additional info here.
- You may download Telehealth call logs and manually add them to your EMR. See additional info here.
- You have the ability to download client data such as adherence to programs over time. Check out the resource to do so here. This can also demonstrate your remote monitoring and can be manually added to your EMR.
Physitrack RTM Compliance Statement (Legal position)
Use of Physitrack or its affiliated products and services may be eligible for reimbursement under the Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) treatment management service codes, subject to payer specific coverage policies. This statement does not constitute reimbursement advice, and Physitrack does not warrant, guarantee, or make any representation as to whether a particular use of Physitrack or its affiliated products and services is available for reimbursement by any governmental healthcare program or commercial payer. The legal and regulatory status of Physitrack and its affiliated products and services, and the legal and regulatory environment for reimbursement, are subject to change. Users of Physitrack and its affiliated products and services are responsible for reviewing and confirming the availability of reimbursement for certain uses of Physitrack or its affiliated products and services.