CMS Finalizes New Reimbursement Rules for Remote Patient Monitoring

The final rule for the 2020 Physician Fee Schedule gives hospitals and health systems more opportunities to use remote patient monitoring and paves the way for new telehealth and mHealth programs.

Hospitals and health systems will see Medicare reimbursement for more remote patient monitoring services, according to finalized guidelines recently released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

In its final rule on Chronic Care Remote Physiologic Monitoring, CMS has expanded the reimbursement plateau for RPM services delivered “incident to” general supervision and has added a new code – 99458 – for patients receiving an additional 20 minutes of mHealth services in a given month.

The two changes were part of a package of mHealth and telehealth amendments proposed in August for the 2020 Physician Fee Schedule. It was designed to expand opportunities to use connected health services for came management and coordination.