Comment on CMS-2026-2377-0002
Jennifer ArellanoOpposeIndividual
Summary: A Medicare patient opposes the proposed rules because they believe the changes would end existing remote patient monitoring programs and reduce reimbursement to unsustainable levels. The commenter argues that these programs provide a vital safety net that prevents emergency room visits and requests that CMS focus on fraud and waste instead of ending the service.
Re: CMS-1848-P, Please protect my remote patient monitoring
I am a Medicare patient and I use remote patient monitoring. Every day, my health readings go to a nurse who watches over me. When a reading is dangerous, they call me the same day, before it becomes an emergency room visit.
I understand CMS has proposed rules that would end the monitoring programs most patients like me use, and could require me to schedule a new doctor's visit just to keep the monitoring I already have. I also understand Medicare is considering paying so much less for this monitoring, a small fraction of today, that no one could afford to keep watching over patients like me. Please don't do this. My doctor's office cannot watch my readings around the clock by themselves. The nurses who monitor me work with my doctor; my doctor gets my results and adjusts my care because of them.
If this rule is finalized as written, patients like me lose the daily safety net that keeps us out of the hospital. I want Medicare to stop fraud and waste. Please do it by setting rules for the monitoring companies and checking their results, the way Medicare already oversees equipment suppliers and labs. Fix the problems. Please don’t end the program that keeps us safe.