Six days now pays the same as twenty.
Until this year, a musculoskeletal patient had to transmit data on 16 days in a 30-day window before the device-supply code could be billed. Fall short and the month paid nothing. For 2026 CMS added a 2–15 day code at the same rate. Many patients send data on fewer than 16 days a month, and those months now qualify at full value. Here is the code set, the arithmetic, and the rule most clinics get wrong.
The practical effect is that the patients who used to fall short — the ones who engaged some of the time — move from unbillable to billable. That is also precisely the population whose adherence is hardest to evidence, which is why how the days are counted matters more under the new thresholds than it did under the old ones.
The codes, and what each requires.
Seven codes on two clocks. Device supply runs on a rolling 30-day window that starts at enrollment and re-arms every 30 days; treatment management resets on the first of the calendar month; setup is billed once per episode of care. All three management codes additionally require a live, interactive contact with the patient in that month, attested by the clinician.
| Code | What it covers | 2026 national avg. |
|---|---|---|
| 98975 | Setup and patient education One-time, per episode of care. Covers onboarding the patient onto the device and teaching them to use it. | $21.71 |
| 98985 | Device supply, musculoskeletal, 2–15 days New for 2026. Data transmitted on 2 to 15 days in a 30-day period, and it pays the same as the 16-day code. | $51.44 |
| 98977 | Device supply, musculoskeletal, 16–30 days The original device-supply code. Not billable in the same 30 days as the 2–15 day code — you choose one. | $51.44 |
| 98979 | Treatment management, first 10 minutes New for 2026. For months with under 20 minutes of management. Requires a live interactive contact. | $26.39 |
| 98980 | Treatment management, first 20 minutes Calendar month. Requires at least one live, interactive communication with the patient. | $54.11 |
| 98981 | Each additional 20 minutes Add-on to 98980 only. It does not stack on the new 10-minute code. | $41.42 |
These codes are not additive. You pick one from each pair.
CMS addressed this directly in the CY2026 final rule: the 2–15 day and 16–30 day device-supply codes “are not additive and are not a base and add-on code structure,” and the same applies to the 10-minute and 20-minute management codes. One device code per patient per 30 days, one management code per calendar month. 98981 stacks only on 98980.
What this is worth in a real clinic
RTM is roughly 14% of the value of running hybrid care — real money, and the easiest to leave on the table, but not the whole picture. The full arithmetic is here, including the capacity that opens up when a plan of care runs over a longer timeline.
Rates are 2026 national averages and vary by locality and payer. CMS has since proposed restricting RTM to clinical staff a practice employs directly, starting in 2027. What the CY2027 proposal says.
This page is written for planning, not as billing advice or a reimbursement guarantee. Code selection, medical necessity and claim submission remain with your clinic and your biller.
Find out what hybrid care would mean for your clinic.
Twenty minutes. We look at your caseload and payer mix, where hybrid care would free up therapist time, whether remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) is worth billing, and how your current adherence data would hold up if someone asked you to defend it. If the numbers do not work for your practice, we will tell you that on the call.
On the call we cover
- Whether your patient mix clears the monitoring thresholds
- What your current adherence record would survive
- Conservative revenue math against your own numbers
- What a scoped pilot would involve