98979 Code: First 10-min RTM Services Overview
98979 Code: First 10-min RTM Services Overview
"Remote therapeutic monitoring treatment management services, physician or other qualified health care professional time in a calendar month requiring at least 1 real-time interactive communication with the patient or caregiver during the calendar month; first 10 minutes"
The requirements for billing code 98979 are automatically tracked by the RTM Timer.
Requirements:
- 10-19 minutes of RTM treatment management services in a month
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One interactive communication
Frequency:
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1x per calendar month
When to bill for code 98979?
Provider Scenario:
- Provider Sets up Patient in the system
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Provider renders 10-19 minutes of RTM treatment management services + one interactive communication in a calendar month
Billing decision:
- Bill code 98979 as soon as the code requirement is met and if you think you won't be able to hit requirement for codes 98980 & 98981.
Average Reimbursement: $26.52
Notes:
For the provider usage-based codes: (98980, 98981 & 98979)
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Key point: 98979 (10 min) and 98980 (20–39 min) are not additive base codes.CMS have clarified that you would need to choose the one that best matches total time that month:
- If the total RTM time is ~10–19 minutes → then bill 98979
- If the total RTM Tile is 20–39 minutes → then bill 98980, plus 98981 if you go 40+ minutes
- Code 98979 and 98980 OR 98981 cannot be billed at the same time in the same calendar month.
- Code 98979 is subject to the de minimis policy.