Rules for Patient Monitoring

Monitoring patients is the primary task assigned to you as a PhyxUp remote therapist.

Patient monitoring begins by accessing the patient dashboard through the main RTM dashboard. Time spent on this page is recorded as monitoring time and will used to meet billing requirements for CMS regulated CPT codes.

From this page, you can view a comprehensive overview of patient status and activity, including data graphs, Home Exercise Program (HEP) assignments, and the patient log. You can also make and document patient calls directly from this page.

Note: Monitoring time begins tracking as soon as you enter the patient dashboard and is visible at the top of the page. Be mindful of how long you remain on the dashboard to avoid recording excessive monitoring time.

What to Look For When Monitoring Patients

When monitoring patients, keep track of the following:

• Engagement and feedback with assigned Home Exercise Program (HEP)
• Pain level
• Health data (synced with native health systems, eg. Apple Health)
• General condition (mood, concerns, development of additional symptoms)

In addition to app usage and exercise activity, be attentive to any signs or changes that may indicate a change in patient status, even if they are not directly reflected in the platform data.

Note: Make sure to use the chat and call features on the platform to collect information about the patient’s status at home, and guide them through their treatment plan.

When to Monitor Patients

Because of CMS regulations, patient monitoring should only take place when one (or multiple) of these conditions are met:

1. The patient has uploaded new data that needs to be reviewed

2. Patient-provider interaction is occurring (writing chat message, conducting patient check-in call)

3. Reviewing patient HEP assignments

If none of these conditions are met, do not access the patient page and do not add additional monitoring time.

Checking for Uploaded Data

To check whether a patient has uploaded new data, refer to the Data column on the RTM Dashboard, located on the right side of the page. This column displays the patient’s data transmission activity across their 30 day billing cycle.

Each box represents one day. Orange boxes indicate days when the patient uploaded data, while black boxes indicate days with no data transmission. In the example above, the patient has uploaded data on 13 of the past 30 days and has not uploaded any data for the last 6 consecutive days.

Length of Monitoring Sessions

In accordance with CMS guidelines, monitoring time should be proportional to patient activity and the amount of data uploaded on the platform.

Each individual data point, such as pain levels, engagement time, Home Exercise Program (HEP) feedback, or other health metrics, generally corresponds to 30 seconds to 1 minute of monitoring time. As patient engagement and data submissions increase, additional monitoring time may be appropriate.

Due to CPT billing requirements, remote therapists should aim to document at least 20 minutes of monitoring time per patient each month.