RPM and Medicare in 2026: Reimbursement rates for the coming year

CMS has signaled it will maintain current reimbursement rates for remote physiologic monitoring (RPM) in the draft 2026 Physician Fee Schedule, rejecting recommendations to reduce them due to insufficient evidence. Combined with added billing flexibility for near-threshold time and service requirements, these changes offer critical support for practices operating on slim RPM margins. Lucienne Marie Ide, MD, PhD, is founder and CEO of Rimidi, a company that works with RPM, and the author of an analysis of the 2026 schedule, shares her thoughts.

Medical Economics: Are there any hints or predictions on what could happen to RPM reimbursement rates for 2026?

Lucienne Marie Ide, MD, PhD: This was another exciting part of the draft Physician Fee Schedule, that CMS is saying they want to hold the RPM rates where they've been. And I think there had been a recommendation by some parties to decrease the reimbursement rates around RPM, and they have signaled that they're not going to do that, and I believe overall that there's going to be a rate increase to physicians. But that's really good to see specifically in RPM that CMS came out and said, there's not enough evidence to say that there should be a rate decrease, and so they plan to hold it steady and continue to review the data. And again, I think that's important. There's a slim margin in the RPM business. These code changes will help, because, as we've discussed, it gives practices some downside risk protection, right? You get 18 minutes, not 20, you can still bill for something. You get 14 days of reading, not 16, you can still bill for something. So I think the combination of holding the rate steady and providing this flexibility where it's not all or nothing is really impactful to practices.