Key takeaways from the OneStep webinar featuring Pat Tarnowski (CCO, OneStep) and Anang Chokshi (Managing Partner, Digital Healthcare Consulting)
Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM) is evolving quickly — and 2026 marks a meaningful shift. New CMS updates have lowered barriers to adoption, but the bigger story goes beyond billing. RTM is increasingly becoming a foundation for more continuous, functional, and patient-centered care.
In a recent OneStep webinar, Pat Tarnowski and Anang Chokshi explored what’s changing with RTM in 2026, what clinics need to know to implement it effectively, and how rehab teams can use RTM to extend care beyond the clinic walls.
Here are the key themes and takeaways from the conversation.
One of the most important clarifications from the webinar: RTM is not a replacement for in-person therapy.
As Anang Chokshi, Managing Partner at Digital Healthcare Consulting and a key contributor to the original RTM CPT codes, emphasized during the session:
“RTM is a billing action. It’s not the care. It’s just physical therapy, delivered with remote support between visits.”
RTM is a framework that supports what clinicians already do, monitoring progress, adjusting care, and staying connected with patients between visits.
RTM enables providers to track adherence, symptoms, and functional response outside the clinic, helping ensure care doesn’t stop when the appointment ends. The result is more proactive engagement and earlier intervention when something changes.
Healthcare is shifting toward continuous care, and patient expectations are changing just as fast as technology. Patients are already collecting health data at home and want providers to help them understand what it means.
In rehab, function is the outcome that matters most.
As Pat Tarnowski, Chief Commercial Officer at OneStep and a physical therapist by training, noted during the webinar:
“RTM finally gives us a framework to monitor functional status between visits, not just ask about it.”
RTM creates a way to objectively monitor functional status in real life, not just during visits, and align reimbursement with that reality.
CMS introduced updates that make RTM more practical for real-world use.
Historically, some RTM codes required 16 days of data in a 30-day period. New codes now allow reimbursement for 2–15 days of data, recognizing that meaningful engagement doesn’t always follow rigid thresholds.
CMS also introduced a new monitoring-time option for 10–19 minutes. Previously, clinicians had to reach 20 minutes of monitoring time to bill. The new option reflects how care is actually delivered — often in shorter, focused interactions.
The takeaway: RTM is easier to implement, easier to sustain, and better aligned with real clinical workflows.
A recurring theme throughout the discussion between Pat and Anang was that RTM frequently reimburses care teams for work they’ve been doing for years — calls, messages, follow-ups, and program adjustments that historically went unpaid.
RTM gives clinics a way to intentionally design and document that between-visit care while supporting both patient outcomes and operational sustainability.
“There is a difference between tracking activity and understanding function.”
As Chokshi explained during the webinar:
“You want to understand what they’re doing when they’re not in front of you.”
While exercise completion and patient-reported inputs are valuable, the most meaningful insights often come from objective, real-world data. Measuring how patients actually move in daily life provides earlier signals of recovery, decline, or increased fall risk.
When patients and providers see the same objective mobility data, engagement improves and care decisions become clearer and more confident.
Missed the live webinar? Check out the webinar recording here
Our live Q&A surfaced many practical questions from clinic owners, clinicians, and operators navigating RTM adoption. Below is a snapshot of a few of the most common questions we addressed during the session.
How many days of data are required to bill RTM?
For setup and education (98975), there is no minimum number of days. For patient engagement codes, clinics can now bill for either 2–15 days or 16+ days of data within a 30-day period — but not both in the same cycle.
Who can bill RTM?
RTM can be billed by qualified health professionals, including physicians, NPs, PAs, PTs, SLPs and OTs. Other team members, such as PTAs or OTAs, may contribute under appropriate supervision, but only one provider can bill RTM per patient per billing cycle.
Does RTM require 20 minutes of monitoring time?
Not anymore. In 2026, clinics can bill for either 10–19 minutes or 20+ minutes of monitoring time per month, as long as at least one interactive communication occurs during that period.
Does RTM replace in-person visits?
No. In fact, some organizations have seen increased visit adherence after implementing RTM. Between-visit engagement often strengthens the patient-provider relationship and reinforces the value of in-person care.
What kind of data counts for RTM?
RTM data can include adherence signals, patient-reported outcomes, responses to clinical questions, and other patient-generated data tied to the plan of care. Objective, real-world functional data is especially powerful for guiding decisions.
Do patients have a copay for RTM?
In most cases, yes. RTM typically follows standard outpatient cost-sharing rules, depending on the patient’s insurance plan.
RTM in 2026 is about more than new codes. It’s about building a care model that reflects how patients actually recover — continuously, outside the clinic, and in real life.
When clinics use RTM to monitor function, engage patients earlier, and act on objective data, everyone benefits: patients recover more confidently, clinicians work more proactively, and organizations build care models that are built to last.
At OneStep, we believe: We are how we move.
You can heck out the complete webinar recording here