Back to Resources

Remote Therapeutic Monitoring, Done Right.

A clear, compliant way for specialty practices to monitor therapy progress between visits—and get paid for the work. FairPath helps you operationalize Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) across musculoskeletal, respiratory, and behavioral health programs.

RTM is built for non-physiologic, therapeutic data—adherence, pain and function scores, inhaler use, CBT homework, post-op recovery—not just vitals. Data can be self-reported inside an FDA-defined medical device, including qualified software as a medical device (SaMD), then used to support RTM billing.

Calculate Your RTM Revenue RTM Essentials ↓

RTM vs. RPM: Different Signals, Different Rules

RTM focuses on therapy—musculoskeletal rehab, respiratory adherence, and CBT/digital therapeutics. It uses non-physiologic data, often self-reported, to manage adherence and response between visits. RPM, by contrast, requires automatically collected physiologic data (e.g., blood pressure, SpO₂, weight) from a connected medical device. You cannot bill RTM and RPM together for the same patient in the same 30-day period.

Built for Specialists

RTM is the remote-care pathway designed for Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Orthopedists, Pulmonologists, pain clinics, and CBT-focused behavioral health teams.

Therapeutic, Non-Physiologic Data

Where RPM tracks vital signs, RTM tracks therapy adherence, symptom and function scores, inhaler use, and digital CBT engagement—captured through an RTM-eligible app or device.

Visibility Between Visits

RTM gives you structured visibility into what patients are actually doing between encounters, and creates a compliant path to be reimbursed for that work instead of absorbing it as uncompensated care.

RTM CBT device supply (CPT 98978) is contractor-priced by Medicare; coverage and rates for CBT-focused RTM vary by MAC and commercial payer.

RTM Codes and Requirements: 2025 Baseline

Setup & Education · 98975

One-time per episode of care. Covers initial configuration of the RTM device or app and patient education. CMS does not explicitly impose a day-count in the code descriptor, but most programs bill 98975 when the RTM episode actually begins and the patient starts generating data.

Device Supply · 98976–98978

Monthly device supply and data transmission. In 2025, 98976 (respiratory), 98977 (musculoskeletal), and 98978 (CBT) generally require at least 16 days of valid RTM data in a 30-day period. Only one RTM device-supply code is billable per period per patient.

Treatment Management · 98980–98981

Monthly RTM treatment-management time. 98980 covers the first 20+ minutes in a calendar month (with at least one real-time interaction), and 98981 covers each additional 20 minutes. The 16-day device rule does not apply to these management codes, but you still need legitimate RTM data and documented interaction.

RTM cannot be billed in the same period as RPM for the same patient. It can be billed alongside CCM/PCM/TCM/BHI/APCM when time and work are not double-counted.

What Changes in 2026: Shorter Episodes, New Time Buckets

Beginning January 1, 2026, RTM becomes more flexible. CPT and CMS introduce new codes for shorter monitoring periods and shorter management time, instead of a single “16 days or nothing” device threshold and a single 20-minute management bucket.

2–15 Day Device Supply · 98984–98986

New codes for shorter episodes of respiratory, musculoskeletal, and CBT RTM: 98984, 98985, and 98986 cover 2–15 days of qualifying monitoring in a 30-day period. They cannot be billed for fewer than 2 days or together with the 16–30 day codes for the same period.

New 10–19 Minute Management · 98979

98979 covers the first 10–19 minutes of RTM treatment-management time in a calendar month (with at least one real-time interaction), while 98980 and 98981 continue to cover longer time buckets. This lets you bill appropriately for shorter, but still meaningful, RTM encounters.

In 2026, 98976/98977/98978 are updated to represent 16–30 days of monitoring; 98984/98985/98986 represent 2–15 days. The 16-day requirement does not “go away”—it is joined by a short-duration option.

How FairPath Helps You Run In-House RTM

Step 1: Capture RTM-Eligible Data

FairPath and our agents prompt patients to record therapy adherence, symptom scores, and other RTM data inside a medical-device-qualified app. Prompts may be delivered by SMS or voice, but the clinical system of record is an RTM-eligible device or SaMD, maintaining alignment with RTM device rules.

Step 2: Track Days and Time Accurately

We count RTM “days” and treatment-management minutes in the background. FairPath surfaces when you have reached the relevant threshold—whether that is 2–15 or 16–30 device days, or 10–19, 20–39, or additional 20-minute blocks of management time—so billing stays synchronized with actual care.

Step 3: Produce Clean, Defensible Claims

Our compliance engine encodes RTM-specific rules: day thresholds for device codes, one-practitioner-per-period limits, incident-to rules for physician practices, therapy plan-of-care and de minimis rules for PT/OT/SLP teams, and coordination with RPM and care-management codes to prevent double-counted time. The result is a clear, exportable audit trail for every RTM claim.

The RTM Financials: A New, Predictable Revenue Line

Use the calculator for current, payer-specific estimates. As a reference point, 2025 national, non-facility Medicare payments are approximately in the high-teens to low-$20s for 98975, low-to-mid-$40s for 98976/98977, around $50 for 98980, and around $40 for 98981. Local Medicare Administrative Contractors and commercial plans set their own rates, and 98978 (CBT device supply) is contractor-priced.

Stop Guessing. See Your RTM Potential in Seconds.

Enter your panel size and program mix to see estimated monthly revenue from RTM, alongside APCM, RPM, and CCM—using up-to-date Medicare assumptions.

FairPath RTM Revenue Snapshot

Active RTM Patients
100 patients
Typical RTM Codes
98975 · 98977 · 98980
Estimated Monthly Revenue

$9,000 based on current RTM reimbursement assumptions for 2025 Medicare non-facility rates.

Values shown are illustrative and based on national Medicare averages; your locality, payer contracts, and program design will affect actual results.

Calculate Your Revenue

RTM Questions, Answered

Yes. RTM is “sometimes therapy.” Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, and Speech-Language Pathologists can bill RTM within their scope when it is delivered under a therapy plan of care. Physicians and other qualified health care professionals can also bill RTM. Use GP/GO/GN modifiers when RTM is provided as therapy under a plan of care, and follow your MAC’s supervision and documentation rules for the setting.

RTM requires that data be captured and transmitted by a medical device as defined by the FDA. That can include software as a medical device (SaMD), such as a qualified RTM app, but generic wellness apps or informal text messages are not sufficient. You can use SMS or voice to nudge patients, but the data of record must be entered into, or generated by, an RTM-eligible device or app that your billing team can name and document.

For 2025 device-supply codes 98976/98977 (and 98978 where covered), you generally need at least 16 days of RTM data in a 30-day period to bill. Management codes 98980/98981 do not have a 16-day requirement, but you still need legitimate RTM data and documented interaction. Beginning in 2026, new codes 98984/98985/98986 allow you to bill for 2–15 days of monitoring, while 98976/98977/98978 are updated to explicitly cover 16–30 days.

For RTM treatment-management codes, you must have at least one real-time, two-way communication with the patient or caregiver during the month (for example, a phone call or audio-video visit). Audio-only communication is allowed. This applies to 98979, 98980, and the time counted toward any additional 98981 units you report.

No. Only one practitioner can bill RTM (or RPM) services for a patient in a given 30-day period, even if multiple clinicians are involved and multiple devices are used. Practices should designate a single billing provider for each patient’s RTM episode and coordinate internally.

In many cases, yes. CMS allows RTM or RPM to be billed in the same month as CCM, PCM, TCM, BHI, chronic pain management, and APCM when the time and services are distinct and not counted twice. The key is that you do not use the same minutes or identical activities to support more than one code family. Your documentation should make the dividing lines clear.

No. CMS requires an established relationship for RPM, but not for RTM. RTM services still must be medically reasonable and necessary, and you must be able to show how RTM data is used in the context of the patient’s care, but there is no explicit “established patient” requirement in RTM policy.

CPT 98978 (and, beginning in 2026, 98986 for 2–15 days) support RTM device supply for cognitive-behavioral therapy–oriented digital therapeutics. These codes are contractor-priced and payer adoption is still evolving. If you provide CBT-aligned digital therapy, confirm your MAC and commercial payer policies before relying on RTM CBT codes in your financial planning.

In therapy settings, PTAs and OTAs may participate in RTM services under applicable supervision rules and are subject to the 10% de minimis policy when their time is counted toward timed services. In physician practices, CMS permits RTM to be furnished incident-to under general supervision for eligible practitioners. Always check your MAC’s published guidance for setting-specific requirements and modifier use.

Auditors look for: documented patient consent; the specific RTM device or app (and its status as a medical device); the plan of care or episode definition; day-counts for device-supply codes; cumulative treatment-management time logs; dates, times, and modes of interactive communication; and notes showing how RTM data influenced clinical decisions. The more explicitly you connect RTM data to care-plan changes, the stronger your position in an audit.

For dates of service on or after January 1, 2026, RTM gains new device-supply codes for 2–15 days of monitoring (98984–98986) and a new 10–19 minute treatment-management code (98979). Existing device codes 98976/98977/98978 are revised to clearly represent 16–30 days of RTM in a 30-day period, and 98980/98981 continue to cover longer management time buckets. These changes give you more granular options for short episodes and shorter management engagements, while preserving the ability to bill longer, ongoing programs.