RPM Is Dead for Payers. Long Live the Provider Platform.

UnitedHealthcare just detonated the Remote Monitoring model.Starting January 2026, RPM reimbursement for diabetes, hypertension, and COPD disappears — only heart failure and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy remain covered. (UHC Policy Source)

For digital-health and medtech leaders, this isn’t a billing update. It’s a commercialization earthquake.

For five years, RPM sat at the center of payer contracts — an easy proof-of-value wedge for wearables, sensors, and virtual-care platforms. That door just closed.

The new model flips completely.

• RPM moves off the payer fee schedule

• And becomes a provider-side capability baked into outcomes-based contracts

• Value shifts from payer ROI → provider ROI

• The metric of success becomes clinical throughput, care efficiency, and renewal margin

  
  

Health systems and integrated provider groups will now own the economics of remote monitoring — monetizing it inside comprehensive, therapeutic programs that drive admissions avoidance and margin capture.

Wearables aren’t dead.They’re just no longer the product — they’re the infrastructure behind the next generation of provider-platform contracts.

That means your 2026 commercialization roadmap has to evolve:

• Design contract architectures that bundle tech into clinical programs

• Quantify provider economics instead of payer savings

• Build analytics and benchmarking systems that visualize ROI for providers, not claims processors

  
  

This is the exact pivot Axis Growth Partners was built for.As a Commercialization Architect, I help growth-stage health-tech firms uncover structural friction in their commercial engine — then design scalable systems for adoption, expansion, and revenue leverage.

If your growth plan still depends on payer reimbursement, it’s time to re-architect.The firms that commercialize fastest in 2026 will be those who rebuild now.

DM me. Let’s map your Economic Clarity Sprint → Commercial System Build → Commercialization Cockpit.

Tom Riley

Founder & Commercialization Architect | Axis Growth Partners

tomriley@axisgrowthpartners.co  | axisgrowthpartners.co