CMS approving the Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) codes gave rehab therapists something they did not have before: a reimbursable way to stay connected to patients between visits. The benefits below are what practices report once the workflow is in place.
RTM gives providers visibility into a patient's status between appointments, which is where most of an episode of care actually happens.
Pain scores, patient-reported outcome measures, and therapy adherence data arrive between visits rather than being reconstructed from memory at the next appointment. That lets the clinician spot a problem, reach out, and adjust the plan of care while it still matters.
RTM extends support to patients during the stretch of time between appointments, when questions come up and motivation tends to fade.
This matters most for patients who have a hard time getting to the clinic consistently, including those in rural areas and those managing work or caregiving around their appointments. When a question comes up about a symptom or an exercise, the patient has a way to get an answer without waiting for the next visit. RTM supplements the in-clinic plan of care rather than substituting for it.
Patients who can see their own progress and know someone is watching tend to stay with the program.
RTM gives patients access to their care plan, their exercises, and their progress data, which encourages a more active role in managing their condition. In a study of 1,568 patients at a national physical therapy network, patients using Limber RTM completed 3.3 times more home exercise sessions than patients on a standard home exercise program alone.
RTM creates more points of contact between the patient and the care team, which strengthens the therapeutic relationship.
Research identifies several barriers to home exercise adherence, including time constraints, pain, activity level, and a lack of social support and self-efficacy. Regular communication between scheduled visits changes how a patient perceives those barriers. It also signals that the provider is tracking progress and invested in the result.
"I have found my patients are more dedicated to their home exercise programs which has improved their outcomes in the clinic. My patients love the video component of the Limber exercises as they are better able to maintain proper body mechanics during the exercises. They have also expressed that they appreciate having someone check in on them from the Limber team."
The RTM CPT codes make between-visit clinical work billable during an active plan of care.
Effective January 1, 2026, CMS expanded the code set with CPT 98985 for device supply across 2 to 15 days of monitoring and CPT 98979 for treatment management of 10 to 19 minutes. The lower thresholds bring RTM within reach of shorter episodes and lower-intensity monitoring that previously fell outside the model. Practices should review the full code requirements before building their workflow.
RTM can reduce downstream costs by keeping patients in conservative care and catching problems earlier.
Patients who drop out of physical therapy early often return later through more expensive routes, including imaging, injections, and surgical consults. Better visibility between visits helps the clinician intervene sooner and triage appropriately. In a matched-cohort analysis at a national physical therapy network, 4,081 patients using Limber RTM were compared with 28,916 matched patients receiving standard care. The RTM group showed a 57% reduction in drop-off from care.
RTM has a measurable effect across the practice, but only when the workflow is built deliberately. Who identifies candidates, how consent is documented, who reviews data each month, and who tracks management time all have to be decided before the first patient enrolls.
Limber supports practices across all three delivery models: treating therapist managed, a dedicated in-house team, or a turnkey model where Care Navigators support patients under the treating clinician's supervision. Talk to our team about which fits your practice.
RTM provides therapy adherence data, patient-reported pain scores, and patient-reported outcome measures collected between visits. Instead of relying on what a patient recalls at the next appointment, the clinician sees which exercises were completed, how the patient rated their pain over time, and where progress stalled.
RTM extends support into the time between appointments, when most of an episode of care actually happens. Patients can ask questions about symptoms or exercises without waiting for the next visit. This helps patients who have difficulty attending consistently, including those in rural areas or managing work and caregiving schedules.
Evidence indicates it can. In a matched-cohort analysis at a national physical therapy network, 4,081 patients using Limber RTM were compared with 28,916 matched patients receiving standard care. The RTM group showed a 57% reduction in drop-off from care, a 34% greater improvement in PROMIS physical function, and a 33% greater improvement in pain interference.
Interactive communication under RTM means real-time, two-way contact between the patient or caregiver and the provider. It can occur by phone or through synchronous digital exchange. At least one interactive communication is required in each calendar month to bill the RTM treatment management codes. Asynchronous messaging alone does not satisfy the requirement.
Effective January 1, 2026, CMS added CPT 98985 for device supply across 2 to 15 days of monitoring and CPT 98979 for treatment management of 10 to 19 minutes. These lowered the previous thresholds of 16 days and 20 minutes, which makes RTM billable for shorter episodes and lower-intensity monitoring.
RTM affects total cost of care primarily by keeping patients in treatment. Patients who leave physical therapy early often return through more expensive routes, including imaging, injections, and surgical consults. Reducing drop-off increases the share of musculoskeletal episodes that resolve in conservative care.
