Medicare Proposes That Remote Patient Monitoring Be Managed Only by a Doctor's Own Employed Staff

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.

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.