Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Billing: CPT 98975–98981 Guide

Remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) pays practices to monitor how patients are doing outside the clinic: whether they follow a therapy plan, how their breathing responds to treatment, whether musculoskeletal pain and function are improving, or how they progress through a cognitive behavioral therapy program. Unlike a visit, RTM is built around data collected over a month, reviewed by the care team, and discussed with the patient.

That structure is also why RTM claims fail. The codes have strict rules about data type, the number of days data must be collected, who may bill, and how much management time must be documented. A practice can deliver excellent remote care and still be denied if the billing does not prove each element.

What Remote Therapeutic Monitoring Is

RTM covers the collection and review of non-physiologic data: therapy adherence and response, respiratory system status, musculoskeletal system status, and cognitive function. A defining feature is that data can be self-reported by the patient as well as captured by a device — a patient can log pain scores, complete a symptom questionnaire, or report completing home exercises, and that information can support RTM.

That differs fundamentally from RPM, which is built on physiologic data — blood pressure, weight, oxygen saturation — that a device must automatically collect and transmit. RTM was designed largely for therapy and rehabilitation care, where the most meaningful measures are often functional and patient-reported rather than automatic device readings.

An RTM program involves three kinds of work: setting the patient up and teaching them how monitoring works, supplying the device or software that collects data during the month, and spending clinical time reviewing data and communicating with the patient. The CPT code set mirrors those three steps.

The RTM Code Set: CPT 98975–98981

Setup is billed once per episode of care, device supply codes once per 30 days, and treatment management codes based on documented time plus a live interactive communication with the patient or caregiver.

Code	What it covers
98975	Initial setup and patient education on use of the monitoring equipment
98976	Device supply, each 30 days — respiratory system
98977	Device supply, each 30 days — musculoskeletal system
98978	Device supply, each 30 days — cognitive behavioral therapy
98980	Treatment management, first 20 minutes in a calendar month, including at least one interactive communication
98981	Treatment management, each additional 20 minutes in a calendar month, billed in addition to 98980

Key billing points:

• 98975 is a one-time setup code — reported once when monitoring begins for an episode of care, not every month.
• Only one device supply code fits the monitoring type — respiratory is 98976, musculoskeletal is 98977, and cognitive behavioral therapy is 98978. The code should match the condition and system actually monitored.
• 98980 requires both time and talk — at least 20 minutes of management time in the calendar month and at least one interactive communication. Either element alone does not meet the code.
• 98981 is an add-on code — never billed alone. Each unit is an additional full 20 minutes beyond the first 20 in 98980.

The 2026 Expansion: Shorter-Duration Codes

The RTM family is expanding for 2026 with codes for shorter periods of monitoring and management: 98979, covering a first 10 minutes of treatment management time, and new short-period device supply codes in the 98984–98986 range.

These additions are generally described as a response to a gap in the original code set: some patients complete a short course of therapy, or are monitored for only part of a month, and the original codes left little room to report that work accurately. Because payer adoption and billing rules for new codes can vary and may be updated as guidance is published, verify how each payer handles the 2026 codes — including any data-day and time requirements — before building them into workflows.

Who Can Bill RTM

RTM was structured so the clinicians who manage therapy care can bill it. In addition to physicians and other qualified non-physician practitioners, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists can bill RTM within their scope — a contrast with RPM, which has historically been tied more tightly to physicians and qualified health care professionals who can bill evaluation and management services.

• Therapy modifiers still apply — physical therapy RTM carries the GP modifier, occupational therapy GO, and speech therapy GN, consistent with other therapy services billed under a plan of care.
• The service must fit the plan of care — monitoring should relate to the condition being treated, and the data reviewed should inform treatment decisions, not simply accumulate in a dashboard.
• State scope and payer policy still control — CPT eligibility does not override state practice rules or a payer's coverage policy, so check both before a program launches.

A missing or mismatched therapy modifier is a preventable denial.

The 16-Days-of-Data Rule

The device supply codes carry one of RTM's most-missed requirements: data must be collected on at least 16 days within a 30-day period for the supply code to be billable. Sixteen days is a threshold, not a target. Fifteen days of data means the supply code should not be billed for that period, however good the clinical reason.

• Monitor enrollment actively — if a patient stops transmitting or reporting data in the first week, intervene early, while there is still time to reach 16 days.
• Track days, not just patients — billing should work from a day-count report per patient and period, not from a list of everyone enrolled.
• Hold the claim when the threshold is missed — submitting the supply code anyway invites denial and, if paid, recoupment on audit.

The 16-day requirement applies to the device supply codes. Codes 98980 and 98981 turn on documented time and interactive communication — separate requirements tracked independently.

RTM vs RPM: the differences that matter

RTM and RPM sound alike and share a remote-monitoring workflow, but they are distinct services with distinct code families, and confusing them produces denials.

Factor	RTM	RPM
Data type	Non-physiologic: therapy adherence and response, functional status, pain, cognitive measures	Physiologic: blood pressure, weight, pulse oximetry and similar measures
How data is collected	May be self-reported by the patient or captured by a device	Must be automatically collected and transmitted by a device
Who can bill	Physicians, qualified non-physician practitioners, and PTs, OTs, and SLPs	Primarily physicians and qualified health care professionals who can bill E/M services
Code families	98975–98981, plus the expanding 2026 short-duration codes	99453–99458 family
Typical use	Therapy, rehabilitation, respiratory and musculoskeletal programs, cognitive behavioral therapy	Chronic condition management such as hypertension and heart failure

One rule is absolute: RTM and RPM cannot both be billed for the same patient in the same month. Enroll the patient in the program matching the clinical purpose and data type, and check for overlap before either claim goes out.

Documentation is the claim's defense, since RTM is auditable almost entirely from records. For each patient and period, the file should show the order and plan of care, the setup and education date supporting 98975, daily records proving the day count, time logs behind 98980 and 98981, and notes of at least one interactive communication each month management is billed.

Elite Bill Care builds these checks into claim review for practices billing remote monitoring, working inside Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, AdvancedMD, Tebra, and NextGen. Across all 50 states, our HIPAA-compliant processes support a 98% first-pass clean claim rate and up to 30% denial reduction, backed by 10+ years of experience.

Related pages

• Remote Patient Monitoring Billing: CPT 99453–99458 & 2026 Codes
• Physical Therapy Medical Billing Services
• Occupational Therapy Medical Billing Services
• Speech Therapy Medical Billing Services

Frequently asked questions

Get a Free ConsultationSee All Billing Services