Cardiac RMS specializes in innovative cardiac remote monitoring solutions and comprehensive virtual care management nationwide. We sat down with Tamara Bazar, RN, Founder and Managing Partner, and Maryellen King, ANP, CCDS, AACC, FHRS, Vice President of Clinical Operations, to learn more about the evolving landscape of virtual care and Cardiac RMS’s role in supporting physicians, physician groups, and hospital networks.

Before we get into the details of your work, tell us about your company. What’s the mission behind Cardiac RMS?

Tamara: We’re caregivers first.

Maryellen and I are both nurses. We saw how confusing and fragmented this space was becoming. Technology is essential, and we use some of the best tools available, but we’re not a tech company at heart. Our mission has always been people first. Patients, providers, and our own staff.

You also need the right people. We use certified, dedicated teams trained specifically in remote physiologic monitoring for a simple reason. Continuity of care is what really matters when you’re not seeing the patient in person.

Maryellen: Culture also counts here. Everyone says they have a great culture, but ours is real because it’s grounded in nursing. We’re not trying to conquer the world (although we’re not opposed!). Our goal has always been to do this well and do it the right way.

Cardiac RMS has been providing remote services for a long time, well before “virtual care” became a buzzword. How did it all start?

Tamara Bazar: We’ve been providing remote healthcare services for over ten years, and we started with a focus on cardiology, specifically cardiac implantable electronic devices, or CIEDs. That work taught us how to care for patients at a distance, how to keep them engaged, and how to help them successfully use technology so the monitoring actually works.

Along the way, we learned how to partner effectively with physicians, physician groups, and hospital networks. Over time, we realized that we could apply our approach to help a much larger population.

What made the timing right to expand beyond cardiology?

Tamara: Two things converged. First, we knew from experience that remote care can be done well if it’s designed properly. Second, in the US, Medicare plays a huge role in shaping new care models. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, the federal agency that administers Medicare, was clearly signaling that virtual care and remote care were priorities by investing in new billing codes and care management programs. When Medicare creates structure around something, it tells you they believe it’s here to stay.

CMS continues to introduce new programs. How does that impact your work day to day?

Maryellen King: A lot. CMS adds or refines programs almost every year. Remote Physiologic Monitoring, or RPM, is a good example: there’s a strong Medicare reimbursement framework behind it now, and commercial payers are following suit.

But more programs mean more data, and that’s where we come in. We help providers capture, document, and coordinate patient data — delivering clinical value and ensuring they get paid for their work. This year, Medicare even added new codes that lower the thresholds needed for reimbursement, making it easier for providers to participate without being overwhelmed by administrative burden.

Can you talk about those new codes and what they change?

Maryellen: Yes. CMS recently introduced two new codes, 99445 and 99470, and they’re important because they better reflect how remote care actually happens in the real world.

99445 allows providers to be reimbursed for shorter-term or intermittent remote physiologic monitoring. This includes things like weight, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, respiratory flow where patients transmit data for a smaller number of days in a given month. That makes programs like post-discharge monitoring, monitoring during medication adjustments, or periodic check-ins for stable chronic patients much more feasible.

99470 is a time-based RPM treatment management code. It covers 10 to 19 minutes of remote monitoring management in a month, with the important caveat that there must be at least one real-time interaction with the patient or caregiver. Previously, providers could only bill RPM management under another code 99457 when they logged 20 minutes or more. Meaningful clinical work that didn’t quite reach 20 minutes often went unreimbursed. 99470 closes that gap!

Beyond RPM, what other care management models are you supporting?

Maryellen: We support a range of care management services, including chronic care management, transitional care management, and advanced care management. One of the most exciting developments this year is the new ACCESS model, which stands for Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions.

It’s a CMS initiative designed to support technology-enabled, outcomes-focused care. It sits somewhere between traditional fee-for-service and value-based care and is aimed at reducing the barriers that have historically limited access to virtual and remote services for Medicare patients. Patients will have more options to help them meet their health goals, providers will gain new partners (like us) to help them co-manage their patients’ health, and Medicare will have a way to pay care organizations developing technology-supported services.

How does ACCESS work in practice?

Maryellen: Providers enroll as Medicare ACCESS participants. Patients then enroll in specific programs, like blood pressure monitoring. Payment follows a fixed schedule, but you still bill similarly to fee-for-service. The difference is that you must demonstrate, at the patient level, that you met the care goals.

CMS understands this is a heavy lift for providers, especially those new to these models. That’s why we’re researching, supporting, and encouraging participation.

At the start you said your goal was to “do this the right way” — what does that actually mean day to day?

Tamara: We work alongside physicians every day. Every clinician has an ideal vision for how they want to care for their patients, but they don’t always have the bandwidth, infrastructure, or support to make that vision real.

Patients also have a vision. They want to be educated, supported, and treated like someone actually knows them. Too often, neither side gets what they want. We try to be the bridge.

We call ourselves the nurse in the family. We understand what the doctor is trying to accomplish clinically, and we understand what the patient needs emotionally and practically.