Q- Can RPM services be used for the new and established patients, alike?

In the 2021 Proposed Rule, CMS clarified that RPM services are limited to “established patients.”  In support of this position, CMS asserts that a physician who has an established relationship with a patient would likely have had an opportunity to provide a new patient E/M service.  During that new patient E/M service, the physician would have collected relevant patient history and conducted a physical exam, as appropriate. As a result, the physician would possess the information needed to understand the current medical status and needs of the patient prior to ordering RPM services to collect and analyze the patient’s physiologic data and to develop a treatment plan. However, CMS waived this restriction during the Public Health Emergency (PHE), but stated that when the PHE ends, CMS will require that RPM services must be furnished only to established patients. CMS’ waiver suggests that during the PHE, practitioners may render RPM services without first conducting a new patient E/M service.

To date, CMS has not published guidance on physicians using telehealth (i.e., real-time interactive audio-video technology) to conduct a new patient E/M service via telehealth in connection with enrolling a beneficiary in an RPM program.  However, we do know that, for Medicare telehealth services, CMS allows the use of real-time interactive audio-video technology to satisfy the face-to-face element of an E/M service.  And we do know that “new patient E/M service” codes (e.g., CPT Codes 99201-99205) are listed among the Medicare-covered telehealth services.  Moreover, CMS generally defers to state laws on professional practice requirements, clinical standards of care, and valid doctor-patient relationships.  Nowadays, state laws allow doctors to use telehealth to create a valid doctor-patient relationship for new patients.  

References- https://mtelehealth.com/top-ten-medicare-remote-patient-monitoring-faqs-for-2021-2/