3. The third area of concern is competition. Only one charge per patient for CPT 99091 is allowed each month, although the likelihood of a patient who might benefit from remote patient monitoring having more than one physician is high. It is possible that two well-meaning, even effective providers will both attempt to take advantage of this code. As such, it makes sense to shift the responsibility of remote patient monitoring back to the primary care physician – the one who serves at the epicenter of care for chronic care management.

The Bottom Line
The introduction of CPT 99091 holds great potential for positive impact, and adoption and forward momentum of its use should continue. In tandem, the industry at large needs to recognize the potential for negative fallout if the code is not used responsibly. To circumvent harm, industry stakeholders need to call on each other to do good and rally for excellence. And if that fails, the industry needs to ensure fail-safes exist to protect against fraud, waste and abuse.



About the Author: Dr. Dustyn Williams is a hospitalist at Baton Rouge General Medical Center and co-founder/chief medical officer of DoseDr.

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