Remote Patient Monitoring Profile Timer (Released Tuesday, September 29, 2020)

This article describes a feature used with the Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) feature.  The information and opinions contained herein are for general information purposes only, are not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied upon nor treated as a substitute for specific advice relevant to particular circumstances. We make no warranties, representations or undertakings about any of the content of this guide (including, without limitation, any as to the quality, accuracy, completeness or fitness for any particular purpose of such content), or any content referred to herein. We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content of this guide is accurate, complete or up-to-date

Beginning Friday, September 25, 2020, patients that have Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) enabled now display an RPM timer and expandable quick reference component on their profile page.

About RPM

The RPM feature allows your clinic to track information, and subsequently generate reports for reimbursable monitoring services.  The feature presents an opportunity to significantly increase practice revenue.  Currently, the RPM feature is designed to track and assist with billing for four CPT Codes: 99453, 99454, 99457, and 99458.

About the RPM Timer and Quick Reference

As noted at the beginning of this article, any patient that has RPM enabled for their account will now display the quick timer in the upper right of their profile page.  The two main functions of the new feature (timer and quick reference) are each described below:

RPM Timer

Part of the requirements for codes 99457 and 99458 is that a physician, QHCP, or clinical staff spend a minimum number of minutes each calendar month providing RPM services to a particular patient.  The timer provides real-time feedback on the number of minutes spent on a specific patient profile.  In detail:

1. 1. Timer starts at the first day of the month or when RPM is enabled
      On the first day of each month, the timer will be reset to 0 minutes.  In addition, the timer always begins at 0 minutes when RPM is enabled for a patient, regardless of which day of the month it was enabled.
   2. All providers' time is counted
      The timer will begin counting when any provider from your clinic is viewing any section of the patient's profile.
   3. Counting is done in three 20 minute blocks
      Code 99457 will track up to 20 minutes, and code 99458 will track up to 40 minutes in two separate 20 minute blocks.  This will count up to 60 total minutes of time, but will be presented as up to 20 minutes.
      These 20 minute blocks of time relate to the specific CPT code requirements for each code.  Further, it is possible to track the full 60 minutes (three blocks of 20 minutes) and ultimately not satisfy the remaining requirements for either code 99457 or 99458.  This will be presented in the RPM billing report.
   4. The timer denotes which codes' time requirements are satisfied
      The timer will denote the number of minutes tracked (0 - 20) and which codes' time requirements have been satisfied.  As an example of each possible status:
      1. Neither 99457 or 99458 satisfied (less than 20 total minutes)
         
      2. 99457 satisfied but not 99458 (more than 20 minutes, less than 40 minutes)
         
      3. 99457 satisfied and only the first 20 minute block of 99458 satisfied (more than 40 minutes but less than 60)
         
      4. 99457 and both blocks of 99458 satisfied (60 minutes or more)
         
   5. The timer stops counting after 60 total minutes
      Once the total of 60 minutes have been tracked during a calendar month, the timer will stop counting.
   6. Multiple providers may view a patient's profile simultaneously
      For large clinics, it is possible that multiple providers are viewing a patient's profile at one time.  In this case, even if the providers are viewing the profile at the same moment, each of the providers' time will contribute to the timer.

Quick Reference

You may click on the timer to expand it and display a summary of the patient's outstanding RPM code requirements.  Each of the four codes will display, along with a respective icon to denote which code requirements have not yet been satisfied for the current billing period.  The codes and icons used are identical to what is found on the RPM billing report page (under the Reports->RPM link on the left hand menu).  You may hover the mouse over any of the icons, and a tooltip will display to describe the unmet requirements, such as "25 more days need to elapse":

  

Any code which has all of its requirements satisfied for the billing period will show a green message indicating "Eligible."