Remote Therapeutic Monitoring was created to give rehab therapists visibility into what happens between visits. Musculoskeletal conditions carry one of the largest cost burdens in U.S. healthcare, and research consistently shows that early, adherent physical therapy lowers that cost while improving patient outcomes.
The gap sits in adherence. Prescribing a home exercise program is standard practice in nearly every physical therapy clinic, but only about 30% of patients complete their programs successfully. Research also shows that a large share of the medical information given to patients in a clinical setting is forgotten almost immediately, including the specific detail of an individualized home exercise program.
RTM was built to close that distance. It gives the treating clinician a view of therapy adherence and patient-reported status between appointments, so the plan of care can be adjusted based on what is actually happening at home rather than what the patient recalls at the next visit.
RTM gives providers objective data on how much of the home program a patient is completing, how they are responding, and where they are struggling, all between scheduled visits.
Continuous communication between the patient and the care team gives the provider the information needed to modify the plan of care at the right moment. By combining subjective and objective measures, RTM produces a clearer picture of a patient's status and response to treatment than a follow-up conversation alone. Research shows that communication outside of clinic visits can improve exercise adherence and the amount of exercise performed, through stronger social support and feedback.
For patients, the effect is practical. They have their program, their instructions, and a line to their care team in the same place, which removes most of the guesswork that causes home programs to stall.
Effective January 1, 2026, CMS expanded the RTM code set with two codes relevant to musculoskeletal care. CPT 98985 covers device supply across 2 to 15 days of monitoring in a 30-day period. CPT 98979 covers treatment management of 10 to 19 minutes in a calendar month.
Before these codes existed, RTM billing required at least 16 days of data collection and at least 20 minutes of management time, which left shorter episodes and lower-intensity monitoring outside the model. The 2026 codes open RTM to a wider range of patients and shorter plans of care. This is the most significant change to RTM since the codes went live in 2022.
Under the rules published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, RTM covers the collection and monitoring of non-physiologic data through an approved medical device, during an active episode of care.
Non-physiologic data includes musculoskeletal system status, therapy adherence, and therapy response. In practice, that means pain scores, exercise adherence data, and outcome measures.
This is where RTM differs from Remote Physiologic Monitoring. RPM requires that patient data be transmitted automatically to the provider through a connected device. RTM allows self-reported data entered by the patient through the device.
The device used for RTM must meet the medical device definition published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: an instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article, including a component part or accessory, intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions, or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease.
Limber Health's patient mobile app meets the FDA definition of a medical device for Remote Therapeutic Monitoring.
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring supplements in-clinic care and does not replace in-clinic visits. It is also not telehealth, and telehealth restrictions do not apply to the RTM codes. What RTM does is extend the clinician's visibility past the clinic walls and give patients support during the stretch of time where home programs most often break down.
If you are considering RTM for your practice, talk to our team about how Limber supports hybrid care across Remote Therapeutic Monitoring, home exercise programs, and outcomes collection.
Remote therapeutic monitoring fills the visibility gap between musculoskeletal appointments. A patient may see their physical therapist twice a week and manage on their own the other five days. RTM gives the treating clinician data on adherence, pain, and function across that gap, so the plan of care reflects what is actually happening at home.
RTM supports home exercise program completion by giving patients their program, instructions, and a line to their care team in one place, then showing the clinician who is falling behind. 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.
Evidence indicates it does. 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.
RTM affects cost of care primarily by keeping patients in treatment. Patients who drop out of physical therapy early often return later through more expensive routes, including imaging, injections, and surgical consults. By reducing drop-off and supporting completion of the plan of care, RTM increases the share of musculoskeletal episodes resolved in conservative care.
Start with the workflow, not the codes. Decide who identifies RTM candidates during evaluation, how consent is documented, who reviews patient data each month, and who tracks time toward the treatment management codes. Then choose a delivery model: treating therapist managed, a dedicated in-house team, or a turnkey model where Care Navigators support patients under the treating clinician's supervision.
Yes. Physical therapists and occupational therapists can bill the RTM CPT codes when the patient is under an active therapy plan of care. RTM is billed separately from telehealth and is not subject to telehealth restrictions. Medicare covers RTM, and a growing number of commercial payers have adopted the codes.
