HepBuddy

The home exercise program that loops in a loved one.

Patients actually finish their HEP because they know their daughter/dad/partner is part of the rehab journey.

Every session a patient logs is dated and counted toward remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM). When a period closes, the codes are waiting for you to review and approve.

Start free for 60 days Try a patient session
Margaret’s guided home exercise routine, counting reps

Your patient

9:41
H

HepBuddy

Hi Emily, it’s Emma from HepBuddy 🌿 Margaret’s week:

✅ 4 of 4 sessions done
🔥 6-session streak

Margaret is doing great. A “way to go” from you would make her week. Reply and I’ll pass it along 💛
Way to go, Mom!! 💪

Her daughter

How it works

What makes patients finish their HEP.

Three things get in the way. Here is what we do about each one.

1 No app

A paper handout gets lost by week two, and an app means a download, an account, and a password.

We text your patient a link on the day it is due. They tap it and the session starts. Nothing to install, no account, no password.

8:02
H

HepBuddy

Text Message

Hi Margaret, it’s Emma 🌿

Ready for today’s exercises? A few minutes is all it takes.

Tap to follow along:
hepbuddy.co/r/8fk2

Your patient

2 The session

You prescribe three sets of ten. What actually happens in the living room is anyone’s guess.

Your patient follows a guided session. No manual logging. Sets are logged automatically. Effort and pain at the end tell you which exercises need updates.
Try it yourself.

Your patient

3 The loop

Every HEP app tracks whether your patient did their rehab. None of them care that they did.

Your patient invites their buddy. A daughter, a partner, a best friend. They hear when a session gets done, and when one doesn’t. They’re there to check in on the off days and cheer them on when they’re on a 5-session streak.

9:15
H

HepBuddy

Text Message

Hi Emily, Emma here.

Margaret didn’t get to today’s exercises. It happens. A warm check-in from you tends to work better than anything I can send. Reply and I’ll forward it straight to them 💛
Mom! Don’t break your 5-session streak. You got this! 💛

Her daughter

Your side of it

Stay on top of the patients who need you.

Most of a plan of care happens between visits, where you cannot see it. HepBuddy is what reports back from there.

Who’s slipping? Who should I check in with?

Two missed sessions in a row and a patient moves to the top of the list on their own. You are not scrolling a caseload trying to remember who seemed off last week.

MR

Margaret R.slipping

Home Exercise Program

Last 5 sessions

23273036

August

68% 122/180 sets
JT

James T.slipping

Home Exercise Program

Last 5 sessions

2528146

August

48% 61/128 sets
FO

Frank O.

Home Exercise Program

Last 5 sessions

2629147

August

86% 155/180 sets
DK

Dorothy K.

Home Exercise Program

Last 5 sessions

2730246

August

91% 164/180 sets

Margaret’s HEP · Thu, 6 Aug, 2026

Resisted Single Leg Tap Outs

Knee3 × 10

3/3 sets

Single Leg Partial Squat with Resistance

Knee3 × 10Too hardHurt

1/3 sets

Slider Hamstring Curl

Knee3 × 10Easy

3/3 sets

Side Stepping with Resistance

Knee3 × 10

3/3 sets

Some pain reported · Single Leg Partial Squat with Resistance

“Knee felt tight going down. Stopped after the first set.”

Do I need to make changes to the HEP?

You see the pain and effort on each exercise, so you know which one to progress and which one to ease off.

Remote therapeutic monitoring

The paperwork half of RTM is the half we do.

RTM is how Medicare pays you to monitor and manage a patient’s home program between visits. It exists because a patient who actually does their HEP needs fewer visits and less surgery, and payers worked out that is cheaper for them. You bill monitoring codes for the days your patient logs exercise. You bill management codes for the time you spend reviewing their progress and adjusting their program.

What do I need to bill the monitoring codes?

Monitoring codes require software that meets the FDA definition of a medical device (HepBuddy does), documented consent, an active plan of care, and at least two days of logged exercise in the period. HepBuddy logs every session your patient starts, finished or not, counts the days, and tracks the 30-day period. When it closes, the charge is waiting for you to review and approve, then bill where you bill everything else.

Margaret’s monitoring period · 2 Aug to 31 Aug, 2026

11 data days logged this period

MTWTFSS
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
11 data days · billable closes Aug 31

What do I need to bill the management codes?

Management codes cover your time managing a patient between visits. You need at least ten minutes in a calendar month and one live phone or video call. Reviewing and interpreting their data, adjusting the program, talking to their referring doc, and the call all count.

HepBuddy times that work for you. A stopwatch starts when you open a patient and stops when you switch tabs or stop working, and it keeps a running tally of what you were doing. It never saves anything on its own. You press Log, check the tally, and it goes on the record. You log the calls yourself. When the calendar month closes, HepBuddy totals everything and tells you which code is ready to review and approve.

Clinical monitoring log · August 2026

  • 4 Aug 4 min data review (PT)

    Two weeks of adherence and pain log, pain trending down

  • 11 Aug 3 min hep edit (PT)

    Progressed to band level 3, dropped the squat hold

  • 18 Aug 3 min live phone call · patient (PT)

    Reviewed the knee flare-up, agreed to hold squats a week

  • 25 Aug 2 min care coordination (PT)

    Sent the progress note to the referring physician

12 min · 98979 Live call logged

4:10reviewed adherence

2:10changed the program

Nothing is saved until you log it.

Log 6:20

How do I know what’s billable?

Every code you could bill sits in one queue, sorted by where it stands: ready to review, still short a requirement, or still inside an open period. You approve the ones that are ready.

Ready to review

2 ready · 1 blocked, not included

MR

Margaret R.

Monitoring · 98977 · 2 Aug to 31 Aug

—
JT

James T.

Management · 98980 · August 2026

—
FO

Frank O.

Monitoring · 98985 · 9 Jul to 7 Aug

BlockedConsent not recorded

—

Accruing

Not billable until the 30-day period closes

DK

Dorothy K.

6 data days · closes Sep 4

On track
HB

Harold B.

1 data day · closes Sep 12

Not billable yet

What if I get audited?

Every charge you approve freezes into a claim-line packet: consent and plan of care on file, the device attestation, the dated log behind the code, and your attestation with your name and the date. HepBuddy assembles it as you go. If a payer asks, you download it and send it yourself. HepBuddy never contacts a payer.

RTM audit packet · Margaret R. · 98977

1

Patient & billed line

Who was billed, and for what

CPT code98977 · device supply 30-day period2 Aug to 31 Aug, 2026
2

Consent, eligibility & device

The compliance preconditions

ConsentOn file, verbal, coinsurance disclosed Plan of careActive certified PT plan of care DeviceHepBuddy (software, MSK adherence)
3

Data-day log

11 data days, each anchored to a session

3 Augsession 4f21c9 5 Augsession 7b0ae4
Reviewed & attested by Dana Whitfield, PT, DPT on 1 Sep, 2026.

What RTM pays at your clinic.

Rates change by area. The device code runs about $46 in rural Kansas and about $60 in Manhattan.

20
20

20 patients, every 30 days

—

— per patient × 20

Monitoring · 98977 or 98985—

Management · 98980—

Setup · 98975— once

Management code requires one live phone or video call that month to bill.

Try it free for 60 days

Simple, flat pricing

Two months free on your real patients. One flat fee after that, never per patient.

1

Free trial

Free for 60 days

Your full caseload. Long enough to run a full 30-day cycle and see the documentation before you decide. Card on file, cancel anytime before day 60.

Start free for 60 days
2
$125/mo per therapist
Unlimited patients, always · no setup fee · no contract

Starts after
your 60 days

Our story

How HepBuddy started

Harrison and his mom at Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska, arms raised
Mom and me at Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska.

My mom lives 8,000 miles away in Myanmar. When her knee started giving out, she started physical therapy, and there was almost nothing I could do from here but ask if she’d done her exercises.

That’s the real gap. The plan is easy. Doing it at home, alone, with no one keeping track, isn’t. And I was too far away to be that person.

So I built HepBuddy to close the distance. On her exercise day, a link shows up in her texts. She taps it and follows along. When she’s done, I get a text with how she did, 8,000 miles away. Now I can keep her accountable and cheer her on, one exercise closer to dancing and hiking again.

Questions PTs ask

How do you count therapists?

Anyone with a login on your account. Every login is $125/mo, and patients are unlimited. Add or remove someone whenever you like. The change shows up on your next invoice, so you never get a surprise mid-month charge.

My patients are older and not great with tech. Will they use it?

No app, no login, no password. On their exercise day a text shows up with a tappable link. They tap it and follow the video, like a FaceTime call. Their loved one is already looped in to nudge them if they stall.

What if a patient doesn’t have a loved one to loop in?

They can still use HepBuddy solo, and the RTM documentation works exactly the same. But most patients have someone who cares. A spouse, an adult kid, a close friend. HepBuddy just gives that person an easy way to show up.

Will billing RTM get me audited or clawed back?

RTM is an established Medicare code set, not a loophole. HepBuddy keeps a timestamped record of every exercise day behind each claim and exports it as a PDF. You review and sign each 30-day cycle, and you decide what your documentation supports.

How much of my time does this actually take each month?

The device codes need no phone call. Budget a few minutes per patient each cycle to review the data and sign. Live 20-minute check-ins are only for the management codes, and those are optional.

Do I need consent, and is texting a loved one a HIPAA issue?

Yes, RTM requires documented consent, and HepBuddy captures it at enrollment. The patient chooses who gets looped in and agrees to it. The loved one only sees progress updates, and can opt out of texts anytime.

Which patients is HepBuddy a fit for?

Chronic knee, back, and post-op caseloads with an order and a plan of care, doing a home program you prescribed, fit best.

Set up your first patient yourself.

No demo, no sales call. Sign up, build a HEP, and send it. If you get stuck, email me and I’ll answer.

Start free for 60 days Email us
Self-serve setup, no sales call
Free for 60 days, your whole caseload
No contract, no setup fee