Opexia builds custom time-tracking and billing software for organizations running Chronic Care Management (CCM) and Principal Care Management (PCM) programs. Every minute is logged against a patient, a staff member and a calendar month in an append-only audit trail. Thresholds and month-end coverage are visible before the month closes, and paycode counts feed your invoices. Our team built this kind of time tracking for a US CCM/PCM organization that grew from about 3,200 to 8,000+ patients.
If several of these sound familiar, the time log needs to become a system:
Coordinators rebuild their time from notes at the end of the week or month instead of logging it as they work.
A time entry can be changed or deleted, and the file keeps no record of who changed it or what it said before.
You learn which patients fell short of 20 or 30 minutes only after the month has closed.
Nothing stops one call from counting toward CCM and toward another billed service for the same patient.
Someone recounts qualifying patients per code every month before the invoices can go out.
In CCM and PCM, the time log is the billing record. CMS pays for documented clinical staff time per calendar month, and says time counted toward a CCM code cannot be counted toward any other billed code. So the questions an auditor asks (who spent this time, with which patient, on what date, and was it counted anywhere else?) have to be answerable from the log itself. We build the log that way. Each entry records the staff member, patient, program, date and activity. A correction is saved as a new entry that points to the original, so nothing is overwritten. Coordinators see where each patient stands against the month's threshold, managers see month-end coverage across their team in time to reassign patients, and entries that overlap or could count toward two codes are flagged for review before billing. At month end, qualifying minutes roll up into CPT paycode counts that feed your reports and invoices. Access is role-based: coordinators see their assigned patients, managers their team, administrators the organization.
This is one specific service within Custom CCM, PCM & RPM Operations Software.
| Where time is logged | Who logged it | How corrections are kept | Threshold view during the month | Audit export |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet time log | Whatever the person typed; nothing ties an entry to a login. | Overwritten in place; the earlier value is usually lost. | Only if someone builds and maintains the formulas. | Assembled by hand from the files. |
| Time fields in the EHR | Tied to the EHR user who documented it. | Depends on the EHR's own log and what it lets you see. | Rarely summarized per program and month across a whole panel. | Limited to the reports your EHR offers. |
| Off-the-shelf care-management tool | Tied to a user account. | Kept in the vendor's log, as the product records them. | Usually available, in the product's own format. | The vendor's report formats; check what can be exported. |
| Custom time-tracking system | Tied to a user account, patient, program and date. | Added as new entries; the original always stays. | Per patient, coordinator and team, updated as time is logged. | Designed around what your billing and audit reviews ask for. |
If an existing tool already records time the way your billers and auditors need, use it. Custom earns its cost when your rules, partner practices or reporting don't fit what the tool allows.
CPT 99490 (CCM) requires at least 20 minutes of clinical staff time per calendar month, with 99439 for each additional 20 minutes. PCM, for a single high-risk condition, requires at least 30 minutes per calendar month: 99424 or 99426 for the first 30 minutes, 99425 or 99427 for each additional 30. Source: CMS MLN909188, Chronic Care Management Services (June 2025).
Current CMS guidance
CMS's CCM booklet says time counted toward a CCM service code cannot be counted toward any other billed code. In software terms, each minute needs exactly one billing destination, and overlaps should be flagged before month-end rather than found in an audit.
Current CMS guidance
CMS's remote monitoring booklet says RPM or RTM (not both) can be billed for the same patient as CCM or PCM, provided time and effort are not counted twice. When RPM minutes are logged in the same system, the overlap check has to span every program.
Engineering and operations context, not legal or billing advice. Last reviewed 2026-09-28.
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Common questions about time tracking and billing software for ccm and pcm programs
Whatever your billing rules say counts, set as configuration rather than hard-coded. Each entry records the staff member, patient, program, date and activity, and the system totals qualifying time per patient per calendar month against the CCM or PCM threshold. Your compliance advisor decides the rules; the software applies them the same way every month.
Time entries are append-only. A correction is saved as a new entry that references the original, recording who made it, when and why, so the original value is never lost. Managers and auditors can see the full history of any patient's month, and exports show both the billed total and how it was reached.
It flags them for a person to resolve. When entries for one patient overlap in time, or minutes are assigned to CCM and to another billed service such as RPM, the system raises a flag before month-end. CMS says time counted toward a CCM code cannot count toward any other billed code.
Yes. We sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) before any PHI access: no one on our team sees protected health information until it is executed. Time logs tied to patients are PHI, so this comes before we see real ones. We can sign your organization's BAA or provide ours, and the signed agreement governs.
Cost depends on scope, so we don't quote a generic range. Book a free 30-minute consultation: we review your requirements and workflow, then send a written scope and quote tied to what you actually need. There is no per-patient licence fee; after launch you pay for hosting and any maintenance you choose.
You do. You own the source code on final payment, and your time logs, patient records and billing data stay yours throughout. After launch you can keep working with us under a monthly retainer, bring development in-house, or hand the codebase to another team.
Our team works from Pakistan with overlap into US business hours. PHI access is governed by the signed BAA, limited by role-based access so each person sees only what their role needs, and recorded in audit logs. During the build we use de-identified or synthetic data wherever possible.
Deep-dive technical guides related to time tracking and billing software for ccm and pcm programs
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Get ChecklistRead the published CCM/PCM engagement: Excel to a multi-tenant platform serving 8,000+ patients.
Read the Case StudySchedule a technical consultation to discuss your specific requirements, timeline, and budget. No sales pitch—just engineering.
Or explore the engineering glossary to learn more about healthcare software terminology.
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