The public comment period on a Medicare proposal that would stop paying for remote patient monitoring performed by outside vendors closed Monday night, and a coalition of more than 230 health care organizations warns that the change could disrupt care for more than 1 million beneficiaries. That estimate comes from the coalition, not from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which tied the proposal to concerns about program integrity and low-quality vendors.
Under the draft 2027 Physician Fee Schedule, Medicare would pay for remote physiologic monitoring and remote therapeutic monitoring only when the services are furnished by clinical staff employed by the billing practice, starting January 1, 2027, Fierce Healthcare reported on the proposed Medicare changes. Practices could no longer bill Medicare when that work is contracted out to third-party companies.
