Policy & oversight
Medicare Proposes That Remote Patient Monitoring Be Managed Only by a Doctor's Own Employed Staff
A proposed rule released July 14 would bar third-party remote monitoring companies from billing Medicare for those services and require a practitioner visit before monitoring can begin.
By the Goodsurance editorial teamJuly 12, 2026
Medicare's proposed physician payment rule for 2027, released July 14, 2026, would significantly restrict how remote patient monitoring and remote therapeutic monitoring services are billed to the program. Under the proposal, these services could only be billed when the clinical staff who carry them out are employed directly by the billing practice. Arrangements in which a third-party company contracts with a practice to handle data collection, alerts, and patient check-ins would no longer qualify for Medicare payment.
The proposal follows two reports from the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services that raised concerns about rapid growth in remote monitoring billing, including cases where patients received a monitoring device but never received follow-up care tied to the data collected.
Medicare proposes banning outside monitoring companies from billing for remote patient tracking, requiring the doctor's own staff instead.
CMS also proposed that a practitioner must furnish a separately billed initiating visit before remote patient monitoring can begin. That requirement, already in place for physiologic monitoring, would extend to therapeutic monitoring as well.
Remote patient monitoring allows patients to track data such as blood pressure or blood glucose at home, with readings transmitted to their care team. Remote therapeutic monitoring covers conditions such as musculoskeletal recovery. Billing for both categories has grown substantially in recent years.
If finalized, the restrictions would take effect January 1, 2027. Public comments are due by September 14, 2026.
In plain words
Medicare wants to change who can bill for tracking patients' health from home. Right now, some doctors hire outside companies to watch patients' data. Medicare would end that. Under the new plan, only staff who work directly at the doctor's office could do that monitoring. Also, a doctor would need to see a patient first before starting the remote tracking service. A federal watchdog found that some patients got a tracking device but never got care based on the readings. The change would start in 2027 if approved. Comments are open until September 14, 2026.
Understand the basics first
Source: CMS
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