In September 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report entitled, “Additional Oversight of Remote Patient Monitoring in Medicare is Needed.” The report focuses on three main issues: (1) providers failing to use remote patient monitoring (RPM) as intended; (2) fraud and abuse related to RPM; and (3) a lack of information and transparency around the use of RPM for Medicare enrollees. OIG recommended several changes to increase oversight of RPM. These include recommending that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) implement audits to ensure the three components of RPM–education and setup, device supply and treatment management–are met, require additional billing information to better track the ordering provider and the condition being treated, create methods to better identify health data and the types of devices being used, and continue to provide education to providers. This comes almost one year after OIG published a consumer alert on RPM in November 2023, noting the potential for fraud schemes where Medicare enrollees are targeted by companies attempting to sign up enrollees for RPM regardless of medical necessity.
OIG Recommends Additional Oversight of Remote Patient Monitoring for Medicare Enrollees
