Dive Brief:
- The number of remote patient monitoring (RPM) reimbursement claims hit a new high in 2022, according to a report by Definitive Healthcare.
- By November, the volume of claims across the 10 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ codes for RPM was already 27% above the total for all of 2021, adding to the growth seen since the start of 2019.
- Cardiologists are the main users of RPM devices, with blood pressure diagnoses accounting for more than half of all claims made in 2021. Diabetes, which accounts for 16% of claims, is the next most active area.
Dive Insight:
From January 2019 to November 2022, claims volumes across 10 CMS codes for remote monitoring rose by more than 1,200%. The period covers pivotal years for the RPM sector, in which the pandemic drove demand for remote monitoring technologies and the CMS created nine new reimbursement codes. The CMS created its first catch-all reimbursement code in 2018.
The latest analysis shows that growth continued even as face-to-face healthcare interactions resumed in 2022. Claims for the supply of RPM devices and the monitoring of the data they collect increased again last year.
Specialists in internal medicine and cardiology are making the most claims. More than half, 51%, of all RPM-claims made in 2021 were related to diagnosis of primary hypertension. Another blood pressure diagnosis, hypertension with complications and secondary hypertension, accounted for 5.4% of claims. Diabetes, with and without complications, took the other top spots and accounted for 16.8% of claims.
While RPM claims are increasing, the authors of the report identify factors that are holding the sector back. The proportion of healthcare leaders who said their practices are using RPM rose from 22% to 25% between 2021 and 2022. Definitive Healthcare sees data security, fee-for-service payment models, insufficient IT infrastructure and unclear reimbursement policies as potential barriers to adoption.
The report identifies integration of RPM management into electronic health record systems, the piloting of new technology with private payers and the use of artificial intelligence to streamline processes as ways to accelerate adoption.
