RPM in 2026: Allowable communication methods and time

What is the best way for physicians to communicate with patients about data they have analyzed from remote patient monitoring? Lucienne Marie Ide, MD, PhD, founder and CEO of Rimidi, a company that operates remote patient monitoring and chronic care management systems, describes scenarios for 2026.

Medical Economics: Just to talk about communication methods: CMS is requiring live interactive communication between physicians or other clinicians and the patients, but CMS did not specify the types of communication. Does this mean that physicians can bill for in-person visits and telehealth consultations?

Lucienne Marie Ide, MD, PhD: I think they tried to clarify, and I'm not sure that they 100% clarified in that language, because you know, there's still some debate around it. But in my mind, nothing has really changed, that there has been this requirement that there is one, you know, as they call it interactive communication per month. That can be a phone call, that can be a live voice and video telehealth call, that could be an in-person visit with the patient. Although that time can't be double counted, right? So if the patient has a quick telehealth check-in related to RPM, that is RPM time, not a separate billable like E/M for telehealth code. That's the general principle, you can’t double-count time.