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The core differenceWho can bill eachThe two code familiesThe same-month ruleWhich fits MSKQuick decision guideKey takeaways
- RTM bills non-physiologic, therapeutic data (often patient-reported). RPM bills physiologic data from a device.
- For MSK recovery — pain, range of motion, exercise adherence — RTM is the fit.
- Therapists (PT/OT/SLP) can bill RTM under their plan of care — a key contrast with RPM.
- You generally can't bill RTM and RPM for the same patient in the same month.
RTM and RPM are siblings — both are remote-monitoring programs Medicare recognizes, both involve collecting patient data between visits and managing care from it. But they cover different data, different providers can bill them, and choosing the wrong one (or trying to run both) is a common, avoidable mistake. Here's the difference in plain terms.
The core difference: what kind of data?
The line between them is the type of data you're monitoring.
- RPM — Remote Physiologic Monitoring. Physiologic measurements — weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, pulse oximetry, heart rate — collected by a medical device that automatically records and transmits the data.
- RTM — Remote Therapeutic Monitoring. Non-physiologic, therapeutic data — musculoskeletal status, respiratory status, therapy adherence and response — and, critically, the data can be patient-reported.
If the data is therapeutic and often self-reported — pain, function, whether they did their exercises — you're in RTM territory, not RPM.
That distinction is exactly why RTM exists: a recovering knee or shoulder doesn't produce a tidy physiologic signal. It produces pain scores, range-of-motion progress, and adherence — therapeutic data, much of it self-reported. RPM's device-measured-physiologic model doesn't fit it; RTM's does.
Who can bill each
This is the difference that matters most for an MSK practice. RTM can be furnished and billed by therapists — physical therapists, occupational therapists, and SLPs — under their plan of care, as well as by physicians and other qualified health professionals. RPM, by contrast, generally sits with physicians and QHPs and is not billable by therapists in the same way.
For a practice with a PT arm, that's decisive: RTM is the program your therapists can actually bill.
The two code families, briefly
| RTM | RPM | |
|---|---|---|
| Data | Therapeutic / non-physiologic (MSK, adherence) | Physiologic (BP, glucose, weight…) |
| Data source | May be patient-reported | Device-measured & auto-transmitted |
| Example codes | 98975 · 98977/98985 · 98980/98981/98979 | 99453 · 99454 · 99457/99458 |
| Therapists can bill | Yes (PT/OT/SLP) | Generally no |
| MSK recovery fit | Strong | Weak |
The hard rule: not both in the same month
You generally cannot bill RTM and RPM for the same patient in the same calendar month — Medicare treats running both concurrently as duplicative. Pick the program that matches the data you're actually collecting; you don't get to stack them on one patient that month. (As always, confirm the current rule with your biller.)
Which one fits a musculoskeletal practice
For post-operative recovery and conservative MSK care, it's RTM, on every axis: the data is therapeutic and largely patient-reported, your PTs can bill it, and it's built around exactly the signals an orthopedic or rehab recovery produces. RPM is the right tool for physiologic conditions (hypertension, diabetes, CHF) — a different patient and a different practice.
A 10-second decision guide
- Monitoring pain, function, range of motion, or exercise adherence? → RTM.
- Data is patient-reported or entered, not auto-measured by a device? → RTM.
- A PT/OT is doing the monitoring and billing? → RTM.
- Monitoring a physiologic vital (BP, glucose, weight) via a connected device? → RPM.
BoneArc is built for the RTM side of that line.
Patient-reported recovery data, therapist-billable codes, the documentation and certification that make a month billable — tracked as it happens.
See it on your panel →