What RTM is
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) is a category of services that lets clinicians monitor a patient's status between in-person visits using digital tools — for example, data on movement, function, therapy adherence, or response to a treatment plan. It was introduced to reflect a simple reality: meaningful care increasingly happens outside the four walls of the clinic, and the time spent reviewing remote data and adjusting plans is real clinical work. The original family of five RTM codes (CPT 98975, 98976, 98977, 98980, and 98981) was created by the CPT Editorial Panel in October 2020, and CMS finalized payment for them in its CY 2022 Physician Fee Schedule final rule. The code descriptors name musculoskeletal system status, therapy adherence, and therapy response among the things that can be monitored.
Why it fits rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is a between-visits discipline. Progress depends on what patients do at home, and the most useful signal often isn't visible in a single appointment. CMS noted in that rule that physical therapists were among the projected primary billers of RTM, and recorded stakeholders' view that the codes were created to let practitioners who can't bill remote physiologic monitoring furnish similar services. RTM is well-suited to physical therapy, occupational therapy, and similar fields because it formalizes the ongoing monitoring that good rehab already relies on — turning home exercise programs and functional tracking into a continuous loop rather than a series of disconnected snapshots. That matters because home-program adherence is a well-recognized problem, with estimates of non-adherence as high as 50% (Argent et al., 2018).
The role of objective data
RTM works best when the data being monitored is meaningful and consistent. Objective movement metrics — captured the same way each time — give clinicians a defensible basis for the trends they're tracking and the decisions they make. Reliable measurement also strengthens documentation, which matters for any service that has to stand up to review; Medicare's therapy documentation guidance, for example, asks that progress be established through objective measurements.
A note on the details
RTM is governed by specific codes and payer rules that determine eligibility, documentation requirements, and how monitoring is recognized. Those details evolve and vary by payer, so this overview is educational rather than billing guidance — confirm current requirements with your own billing and compliance resources. The durable point is the shift it represents: care, and the measurement behind it, extending beyond the visit.
For the current code set — including the codes CMS added for 2026 — see our RTM CPT codes quick reference.
References
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare Program; CY 2022 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment Policies (final rule). Federal Register. 2021;86 FR 64996. federalregister.gov
- Argent R, Daly A, Caulfield B. Patient involvement with home-based exercise programs: can connected health interventions influence adherence? JMIR mHealth and uHealth. 2018;6(3):e47. doi:10.2196/mhealth.8518
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15, §220.3: Documentation Requirements for Therapy Services. cms.gov