Respiri - Dollars in the bank with CMS reimbursement

In a positive development for its US commercial strategy, Respiri has announced receipt of its first reimbursement claims from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for its wheezo remote patient monitoring (RPM) programme (through one of its partners, Access Telehealth), making it the first Australian company to receive RPM reimbursement. As a reminder, a key component of Respiri’s revenue model is a monthly annuity (US$10–20/patient) derived from the CMS reimbursement to prescribing physicians and this announcement marks the first recurring revenue inflows, on top of the revenue from device sales. There are 20 patients on the RPM programme and with onboarding ongoing at multiple locations (500 prospective patients have been identified), we expect the claims quantum to rise in the near term, supporting top-line growth. We await further visibility on commercial progress before revisiting our estimates and for now keep our valuation unchanged at A$0.24/share.