RTM, explained
What is Remote Therapeutic Monitoring?
RTM is a set of CMS billing codes — available since January 2022 — that reimburse clinics for monitoring a patient's home program between visits. This guide explains what RTM is, the CPT codes involved, how the monthly workflow runs, and how it gets paid.
Educational overview · Reflects national CMS fee-schedule averages · Not billing or legal advice
The basics
RTM, in plain English
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring lets therapists track a patient's progress on their home program between visits and be reimbursed for the clinical time that goes into reviewing it. It is frequently confused with RPM (Remote Patient Monitoring), but they are different programs with different rules, providers, and codes.
RTM
Therapy & adherence- Data monitored
- Non-physiological — musculoskeletal function and therapy adherence
- Device needed
- The patient's own phone — no special hardware
- Who can bill
- PTs, OTs and SLPs bill directly
- CPT family
- CPT 98975–98986
RPM
Physiological- Data monitored
- Physiological — heart rate, blood pressure, weight, SpO₂
- Device needed
- Dedicated sensors and wearable devices
- Who can bill
- MDs, NPs and PAs — physician oversight required
- CPT family
- CPT 99453–99458
What RTM covers
Home exercise programs
The structured at-home plan a PT, OT or SLP prescribes for the weeks between visits.
Therapy adherence
Knowing which patients are actually doing their exercises at home — and who's falling behind before the next visit.
The codes
The core RTM billing codes
Three codes do most of the work: a one-time setup, a monthly device-supply code, and a monthly treatment-management code. Rates below are 2026 national CMS fee-schedule rates.
The onboarding visit where the patient (or parent) is shown how to record data on their own. Billed once when monitoring begins.
Once per episode of care
Covers the monitoring platform the patient uses at home. The patient must log and transmit data on at least 16 separate days in each 30-day period.
Every 30 days · requires 16+ days of data
The clinician time spent reviewing incoming data, sending feedback and adjusting the plan — at least 20 minutes plus one interactive patient contact in the month.
Monthly · requires 20+ min of review
The RTM family also includes add-on and rescue codes: 98981 adds each additional full 20 minutes of management time, and — new for 2026 — 98985 covers months where the patient logs only 2–15 days (paid at parity with 98977), while 98979 covers months with 10–19 minutes of review. Partial-adherence months stay billable. Payer adoption of the new codes varies; confirm rates on the CMS fee schedule.
Put it together
What the recurring combination looks like
Each active RTM patient combines 98977 (device supply) and 98980 (treatment management) — about $94.19 / month at national averages, plus a one-time $21.71 setup (98975) in the first month. Drag the estimator to see what that could mean at your clinic's volume.
Eligibility, documentation, and actual reimbursement vary by payer and region — not a guarantee of payment. Verify rates on the CMS fee schedule.
What could this look like for your clinic?
Drag to estimate — every clinic and payer is different.
Illustration only, based on national CMS fee-schedule averages of $40.08 (98977) + $54.11 (98980) per active patient. Not a guarantee of payment.
In practice
How RTM works, month to month
Five steps, repeated each month — from enrollment to billing.
Consent & enroll
~2 min at intakeGet consent during a normal intake visit.
Set up & educate
Bill 98975Install the app and show the family how to log.
Family follows along
Need 16+ daysEffort, pain & completion logged from a text link.
Clinician reviews
Need 20+ minReview the data, send feedback, adjust the plan.
Bill monthly
Submit & repeatGenerate a one-click report and submit the claim.
↻ The cycle repeats every month a patient stays enrolled.
Consent & enroll
~2 min at intakeObtain consent for remote monitoring and explain what is collected and how it helps. This fits inside a normal intake visit.
Set up & educate
Bill 98975Help the family install the app and walk through the prescribed exercises, then show them how to log adherence in seconds.
Family follows along
Need 16+ daysEach session — completion, effort and pain — is logged in seconds from a text-message link. Qualifying days are tracked automatically toward 98977.
Clinician reviews
Need 20+ minReview logged effort, pain and completion in the dashboard, send feedback and adjust the plan. Review time counts toward the 20-minute 98980 threshold.
Bill monthly
Submit & repeatWhen a code is ready, generate a one-click compliance report and submit the claim — then the loop begins again next month.
Why it matters
Fair reimbursement for care between visits
When families stay engaged with a home program, adherence improves and outcomes tend to follow. RTM is a way for clinics to be fairly reimbursed for the monitoring that supports that — clinical work that often goes uncaptured today. RTM is newer in pediatrics, so it is worth approaching thoughtfully: document carefully, confirm payer eligibility, and treat any figures as estimates rather than promises.
Established codes, not workarounds
RTM has been part of the CMS fee schedule since January 2022. These are recognized CPT codes — not billing tricks.
Pays for care you likely already give
Most teams already follow up on home programs by phone, text or memory. RTM reimburses that work when it is documented.
No extra hardware
Patients use the phone they already own, so there is no device to buy, ship or maintain.
RTM does not guarantee payment. Coverage, documentation requirements, and reimbursement vary by payer and region, and pediatric coverage in particular continues to evolve. This page is educational and is not billing, coding, or legal advice.
How SuloMotion helps
RTM without the busywork
SuloMotion is built for pediatric PT, OT and SLP teams. It captures the home-program engagement that RTM is based on, and documents the qualifying days and minutes automatically.
Speech-to-exercise builder
Say an exercise out loud and it’s built in seconds — no typing. Then drag and drop your exercises, library items, PDF handouts, or links into a complete pediatric plan.
Frictionless parent adherence
Parents log completion, effort and pain in seconds from a text-message link — no app fatigue, no chasing updates.
Automated compliance tracking
Every qualifying day and minute is tracked in the background, with alerts before a patient slips below the 16-day or 20-minute thresholds.
Audit-ready billing exports
One-click CSV exports compatible with EMRs like WebPT, Jane and Prompt. Each interaction and review minute is timestamped for chart review.
Pricing is a simple per-clinician subscription ($45/clinician/mo, unlimited standard HEP patients) plus usage-based RTM at +$15 per active RTM patient per month.
Ready to put RTM to work?
See RTM running in a real pediatric workflow
SuloMotion handles the engagement, compliance tracking, and audit-ready exports — so your team can focus on care while RTM is captured cleanly in the background.
30-min discovery · No card required · HIPAA-compliant onboarding