Though Remote Patient Monitoring Use Spikes, Barriers to Uptake Still Exist

The use of remote patient monitoring skyrocketed during the COVID-19 public health emergency, with RPM claims volume jumping by 1,294% from January 2019 to November 2022, according to a report released by Definitive Healthcare.

Since 2018, CMS added five new reimbursement codes for RPM services, and introduced five codes related to remote therapeutic monitoring in 2022. By November 2022, RPM claims volumes were already 27% higher than they were during 2021.

Internal medicine physicians were more likely to use RPM, with 28.7% of their procedure claims related to RPM. Cardiological and family practice providers ranked second and third at 21.3% and 19.4%. An analysis of diagnosis categories suggested similar trends. Essential hypertension saw the highest share of RPM-related claims at 51.0%, followed by diabetes mellitus with complications (10.4%) and diabetes mellitus without complications (6.4%).