When physical therapy clinic owners evaluate Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) platforms, the comparison usually starts with brand familiarity. Most "legacy" platforms, or adjacent tools, have it in abundance: a large install base, deep Home Exercise Program (HEP) integration, and promotional pricing that makes adoption feel low-risk. For many practices, these established names are the default choice.

But "default" and "best" are not the same thing—especially when the clinical stakes involve fall risk, post-surgical recovery, and musculoskeletal (MSK) outcomes where subjective adherence data only tells part of the story. The real question isn't which platform is more popular. It’s which platform gives your clinicians data they can actually act on.
‍

What Each RTM Platform Is Built to Do

Understanding the comparison starts with the core philosophy of each tool. They are solving related but meaningfully different problems.

Legacy and Broad-Market RTM Platforms

Traditional RTM platforms tend to be extensions of rehab education suites. Whether they are long-standing legacy names or newer options, their primary goal is to track engagement: Did the patient log in? Did they click "complete" on their exercises? 

These tools sit inside a framework of HEP builders and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), relying heavily on subjective data. The primary goal is to track whether patients are logging into their programs and completing assigned activities.

OneStep’s RTM Solution

OneStep is built from the ground up as a movement analytics platform. Using an FDA-listed medical device, the sensors already inside a patient’s smartphone, it extracts more than 30 clinically validated gait and mobility parameters. This includes gait speed, stride length, cadence, and double support time (DS%).

Critically, OneStep captures the “whole person” experience through two modes:

• Active monitoring: The patient initiates a walk within the app and receives real-time feedback.
• Passive monitoring: The app captures spontaneous movement throughout the patient’s day, in their real home environment, without any action required.
  ‍

The Data Gap That Changes Clinical Decisions

Traditional RTM data tends to answer one question: Did the patient do their exercises? While useful for basic billing and engagement metrics, it doesn't tell you how a patient is actually functioning in the 23 hours a day they aren't in your clinic.

OneStep answers a different, harder question: How is this patient’s functional mobility evolving in the real world?
‍

The Passive Monitoring Difference

When a patient logs into a standard platform, it records activity. It cannot tell you if that patient is walking with a shortened stride or if their double support time has increased—a key indicator of fall risk.

Research analyzing 7,227 walking bouts found that spontaneous background gait data often reveals less favorable patterns than active recordings, as patients no longer "perform" for the camera or clinician. By capturing movement continuously, OneStep allows clinicians to set precise, functional goals based on real-world behavior:

• Gait Speed: Improve speed by 0.2~m/s to allow for safe navigation of public spaces.
• Double Support: Decrease DS% to 35% to indicate improved dynamic balance and decreased fall risk.
  ‍
  

Mastering RTM Reimbursement

To maximize ROI, your platform must help you navigate complex billing requirements without adding administrative bloat. OneStep simplifies the documentation required for current American Medical Association(AMA) guidelines:

• Short-Cycle Monitoring (CPT 98985): You can bill for patient data collected for 2–15 days during a 30-day period.
• 16-Day Requirement (CPT 98977): For full-cycle monitoring, OneStep's passive collection ensures you hit the 16-day requirement consistently.
• The "Passive" Revenue Boost (CPT 98985 vs. 98977): While CPT 98977 requires 16 days of data, CPT 98985 allows you to bill for data collected for just 2–15 days. Because OneStep collects data passively, it lowers the hurdle of monitoring significantly and makes reaching that 2-day threshold nearly automatic. You get the same reimbursement for a significantly lower "engagement" hurdle.
• Flexible Management (CPT 98979): Bill for 10–19 minutes of remote treatment management per calendar month.
• Efficiency: OneStep takes only 3 minutes to get a patient enrolled and passive monitoring started.

It’s also important to note the PTA/COTA Rule where if an assistant performs more than 10% of the treatment time for codes 98975, 98979, 98980, or 98981, there is a 15% payment reduction.
‍

Which Platform Is Right for Your Practice?

Choose a Legacy or Standard RTM Platform if:

• Your primary goal is basic HEP engagement tracking and simple billing. Tracking "log-ins" and self-reported adherence is satisfactory rather than knowing objective functional improvement.
• You want a single-vendor solution covering education and basic monitoring. Your clinic covers everything from Speech-Language Pathology to Athletic Training and requires a platform that casts a wide, if less deep, net.

Choose OneStep if:

• You treat post-surgical, fall risk, MSK, or neurological populations  (such as Parkinson’s or MS) where objective mobility is the primary clinical indicator.
• You need FDA-validated objective data to support clinical decisions and functional goal setting.
• You want to capture real-world function via passive monitoring to catch health risks early and ensure you hit billing thresholds without "pestering" the patient.
• You need a platform that helps navigate complex billing for codes 98975, 98980, and 98981.

The deeper strategic question is whether your practice wants RTM to be a billing mechanism or a clinical differentiator. Traditional platforms solely make billing easier. OneStep makes the billing guaranteed through passive capture while making your clinical picture complete.