Aetna physical therapy denied: how to appeal

Quick answer

If Aetna (CVS Health) denied your physical therapy, you can appeal, and the plan must give you its file and the criteria it used. Filing windows by plan type: at least 180 days (employer self-funded plans); at least 180 days (insured and Marketplace plans); 65 days from the notice (Medicare Advantage); 65 days from the notice (Part D); 60 days from the notice (Medicaid managed care). The date printed on your denial notice controls; it can only be later than these floors, never earlier.

Why Aetna (CVS Health) denies physical therapy

Aetna, owned by CVS Health since 2018, runs commercial group plans, Medicare Advantage, and a large pharmacy benefit footprint via Caremark. GLP-1, specialty drug, and behavioral health denials are the highest-volume categories.

For physical therapy specifically: Physical, occupational, and speech therapy are denied after a visit cap, when the plan decides progress has stopped, or when it labels care 'maintenance'. Denials are small per visit and large in total, and the maintenance argument is often wrong.

The law that controls this appeal

For Medicare, therapy is covered when it requires the skills of a therapist, including maintenance therapy where skilled care is needed to maintain function or prevent deterioration (Jimmo v. Sebelius settlement; Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15). Medicare has no hard visit cap; claims above a threshold require the KX modifier attesting medical necessity. ACA-compliant individual and small-group plans must cover rehabilitative and habilitative services as an essential health benefit (45 CFR 156.115), and mental-health parity rules limit non-quantitative treatment limits. Plan visit limits and criteria must be disclosed on request.

At a glance

Aetna (CVS Health) appeals: the rule, the deadline and the next level, by plan type

Which row applies depends on the plan you hold, not on Aetna (CVS Health)'s brand. Your ID card, the Summary Plan Description and the denial letter say which.

Plan type	Rule that governs	File your appeal within	The plan must answer	If the plan says no again
Employer self-funded plan (ERISA) Most large employers. The employer pays the claims and hires the carrier to administer them; the Summary Plan Description says self-funded or self-insured.	ERISA § 503 (29 U.S.C. § 1133) and the claims-procedure rule, 29 CFR 2560.503-1. Federal external review under 45 CFR 147.136(d) for non-grandfathered plans.	At least 180 days from the adverse benefit determination (29 CFR 2560.503-1(h)(3)(i)).	Urgent care: 72 hours. Pre-service: 30 days. Post-service: 60 days (29 CFR 2560.503-1(i)(2)).	Federal external review by an accredited independent review organization, requested within 4 months of the final internal denial (45 CFR 147.136(d)); then a civil action under ERISA § 502(a). State insurance departments do not regulate self-funded plans; the U.S. Department of Labor does.
Fully insured employer, individual or Marketplace plan The carrier holds the risk and is licensed in your state. Small employers and almost all individual and HealthCare.gov plans.	45 CFR 147.136 (Public Health Service Act § 2719), which applies the 29 CFR 2560.503-1 procedures and adds state external review; state insurance law on top.	At least 180 days from the denial (45 CFR 147.136(b); 29 CFR 2560.503-1(h)(3)(i)).	Urgent care: 72 hours. Pre-service: 30 days. Post-service: 60 days. Prior-authorization decisions by Marketplace issuers from 2026: 72 hours expedited, 7 calendar days standard (CMS-0057-F).	External review through your state's process, or the federal process where the state has none, generally within 4 months of the final internal denial (45 CFR 147.136(c), (d)). The state insurance department and its Consumer Assistance Program take complaints.
Medicare Advantage (Part C) A private plan that replaces Original Medicare. The card says Medicare Advantage, HMO, PPO or PFFS.	42 CFR Part 422, Subpart M (§§ 422.560 to 422.634). Coverage decisions must follow Original Medicare rules (42 CFR 422.101).	65 calendar days from the date on the denial notice to request the plan's reconsideration (42 CFR 422.582, as amended effective 1 January 2025).	Expedited: 72 hours. Standard pre-service: 30 days (7 days for Part B drugs). Payment: 60 days (42 CFR 422.590).	If the plan does not fully reverse itself it must send the case to the Independent Review Entity on its own (42 CFR 422.592); then an ALJ hearing when the amount in controversy meets the annual threshold, the Medicare Appeals Council and federal court. State external review does not apply.
Medicare Part D (drug plan or MA-PD) A stand-alone drug plan or the drug benefit inside a Medicare Advantage plan.	42 CFR Part 423, Subpart M; exceptions under 42 CFR 423.578.	65 calendar days from the date on the notice to request a redetermination (42 CFR 423.582, as amended effective 1 January 2025). Formulary, tiering and step-therapy exceptions need the prescriber's supporting statement (§ 423.578).	Redetermination: 7 calendar days standard, 72 hours expedited (42 CFR 423.590). Coverage determinations: 72 hours standard, 24 hours expedited, once the prescriber's statement is received (§§ 423.568, 423.572).	Independent Review Entity reconsideration on your request within 65 days of the redetermination notice (§ 423.600); then ALJ, Council and court.
Medicaid managed care plan A Medicaid plan run by the carrier under a state contract. The card says Medicaid, Medi-Cal, STAR, HealthChoice or your state's programme name.	42 CFR Part 438, Subpart F (plan appeals) and 42 CFR Part 431, Subpart E (state fair hearings).	60 calendar days from the date on the notice of adverse benefit determination to request the plan's appeal (42 CFR 438.402(c)(2)(ii)). State fair hearing: within 120 calendar days of the plan's appeal decision (§ 438.408(f)(2)).	Standard appeal: 30 calendar days. Expedited: 72 hours (42 CFR 438.408(b)).	A state fair hearing after the plan's single level of appeal (§ 438.402(b)); some states add an external medical review. Benefits continue during the appeal if you ask within 10 calendar days of the notice (§ 438.420).

Employer self-funded plan (ERISA)

What you can demand. The plan must give you the claim file, the internal rule or criterion it relied on, and the identity of the reviewer, free of charge, on request (29 CFR 2560.503-1(h)(2)(iii), (m)(8)).

How to open the appeal. Cite ERISA § 503 and 29 CFR 2560.503-1 in the opening paragraph: request the claim file and the specific criteria relied on, and note the 30-day (pre-service), 60-day (post-service) and 72-hour (urgent) decision clocks.

Fully insured employer, individual or Marketplace plan

What you can demand. The plan must give you the claim file, the criteria it applied and any new evidence or rationale before the final decision, free of charge (45 CFR 147.136(b)(2)(ii)(C); 29 CFR 2560.503-1(h)(2)(iii)).

How to open the appeal. Cite 45 CFR 147.136 and 29 CFR 2560.503-1: request the claim file and the criteria, note the decision clocks, and name the state external-review right.

Medicare Advantage (Part C)

What you can demand. The plan may not apply internal criteria that are more restrictive than Medicare's national and local coverage determinations, and must decide medical necessity on your individual circumstances (42 CFR 422.101(b), (c)). You can ask for the case file and the criteria used.

How to open the appeal. Cite 42 CFR 422.582 and 422.101(c): the plan must decide on your individual circumstances under Medicare coverage rules, and must forward an unfavorable reconsideration to the IRE itself.

Medicare Part D (drug plan or MA-PD)

What you can demand. The exception turns on the prescriber's statement that the formulary alternative would be less effective or would harm you (42 CFR 423.578(b)(5)).

How to open the appeal. Cite 42 CFR 423.578 and 423.582 and attach the prescriber's supporting statement written to the exception standard.

Medicaid managed care plan

What you can demand. Free copies of the case file, medical records and the criteria used, before and during the appeal (42 CFR 438.406(b)(5)). Children under 21 have EPSDT rights to medically necessary care (42 U.S.C. 1396d(r)(5)).

How to open the appeal. Cite 42 CFR 438.402 and 438.406(b)(5): request the case file and the criteria, ask for continued benefits within 10 days, and reserve the state fair hearing.

Reported denial rates

In the CMS Transparency in Coverage data for plan year 2026 (2024 claims), the 13 Aetna (CVS Health)-family Marketplace issuer filings across 12 states reported in-network claim denial rates from 15.5% to 27.3% (median 21.1%). Issuer-level, self-reported, HealthCare.gov plans only; a denial includes duplicate and administrative denials.

Aetna (CVS Health) denial rate: every state, three years →

Primary sources for this table

Windows are federal floors or the rule as written; the denial notice controls. Reviewed 13 September 2026. General information, not legal advice; Apellica is not a law firm.

What Aetna (CVS Health) denies for physical therapy

The physical therapy services most often denied:

Visits beyond a plan's annual limit
Continued therapy after the plan decides the patient has plateaued
Habilitative therapy for children with developmental conditions
Therapy after surgery when the plan's protocol allows fewer visits
Speech therapy for stroke, brain injury, or developmental delay

Why physical therapy claims get denied

A typical Aetna (CVS Health) physical therapy denial almost always cites one of these reasons. Each one maps to a specific rebuttal in the appeal:

Plan says the patient has reached 'maximum medical improvement'
Care labeled 'maintenance' or 'could be done as a home program'
Progress notes lack measurable functional goals
Visit limit reached under the plan's benefit design
Referral or plan of care not signed or renewed

The Aetna (CVS Health) appeal process

Appeal levels: Internal level 1 (30 days standard / 72h urgent), then external IRO review (45 days standard).

Carrier timing: 180 days from denial for internal appeal; generally at least 4 months (120 days) from the final internal denial for federal external review (exact window varies by plan and state — check your denial letter).

Physical therapy timing: Internal appeal: at least 180 days to file for commercial and employer plans; pre-service decisions within 30 days, post-service within 60 (29 CFR 2560.503-1). Medicare Advantage: 65 days to request reconsideration. Ongoing therapy after surgery or stroke may qualify as urgent (72-hour decision).

What we know about Aetna (CVS Health): Aetna's internal appeals respond well to peer-to-peer review requests filed alongside the written appeal.

Common Aetna (CVS Health) denial patterns for physical therapy

GLP-1 / Wegovy denials citing BMI. Aetna denies most weight-loss GLP-1 prescriptions citing BMI thresholds or 'lifestyle modification first' criteria. When a patient has documented comorbidities (such as type 2 diabetes) and the treating clinician determines a diabetes-indicated GLP-1 is medically appropriate, an appeal built on that documented clinical picture is often reversed quickly — the medication and indication remain the clinician's decision, never a path chosen simply to obtain coverage.
Caremark formulary denials. Aetna's pharmacy benefit (Caremark) issues formulary denials separate from medical benefit denials. Each requires its own appeal track, confusing the two costs weeks.
Internal appeal then external review. Aetna's first appeal is internal and is generally filed within 180 days of the denial. After a final internal denial, external review by an Independent Review Organization (IRO) is a separately strong reversal lane; under the federal ACA standard members generally have at least 4 months (120 days) to request it, though the exact window varies by plan and state — confirm the deadline printed on your denial letter.

How to win your Aetna (CVS Health) physical therapy appeal

Strategy for physical therapy: The decisive question is whether the denial says you stopped improving or says you ran out of visits, because they are different arguments. If the letter uses the language of plateau, maintenance, maximum medical improvement, or says the work could be done as a home programme, that is the improvement standard, and for Medicare it is not a lawful basis on its own. The Jimmo v. Sebelius settlement confirmed that skilled therapy is covered where the skill of a therapist is needed to maintain function or to slow deterioration, even when no further improvement is expected. Making that argument concrete is what wins: the notes have to show why a licensed therapist is required rather than a carer or a handout, which usually means documenting the clinical judgement being exercised, the safety risk being managed, the adjustments made session to session, and what specifically would deteriorate without skilled input. Measurable functional goals expressed in daily activity, such as transfers, stair negotiation, gait distance or fall incidents, carry far more weight than range-of-motion numbers alone. If instead the plan has applied a hard visit cap, the argument is different: check whether the cap is a true plan exclusion or a soft limit that medical necessity can exceed, and for Medicare note that the therapy threshold is not a cap at all but a point at which additional documentation is required, which the provider can supply. For children denied habilitative therapy, the mental health and substance use parity rules and many state habilitative-services mandates are additional routes, because habilitative care is a required benefit category in most plans rather than an optional one.

Filed against Aetna (CVS Health), that strategy rides on this procedural spine:

Procedural-rights anchor. Cite ERISA § 503 and 29 CFR 2560.503-1 in the opening paragraph: request the claim file and the specific criteria relied on, and note the 30-day (pre-service), 60-day (post-service) and 72-hour (urgent) decision clocks. If your Aetna (CVS Health) coverage is a different plan type (Fully insured employer, individual or Marketplace plan, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicaid managed care plan), use that row of the table above instead; the rule and the deadline change with the plan, not the carrier.
Criteria-disclosure demand. Aetna (CVS Health) frequently denies on "not medically necessary" without disclosing the clinical criteria applied. Once disclosed, those criteria become the rebuttal map.
Controlling-standard citation. For Medicare, therapy is covered when it requires the skills of a therapist, including maintenance therapy where skilled care is needed to maintain function or prevent deterioration (Jimmo v. Sebelius settlement; Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 15). Medicare has no hard visit cap; claims above a threshold require the KX modifier attesting medical necessity. ACA-compliant individual and small-group plans must cover rehabilitative and habilitative services as an essential health benefit (45 CFR 156.115), and mental-health parity rules limit non-quantitative treatment limits. Plan visit limits and criteria must be disclosed on request.
Treating-provider attestation. A letter from the treating physician addressing each criterion in Aetna (CVS Health)'s own policy language. This is the single strongest evidentiary element.
Requested action. A specific demand to reverse the physical therapy denial and approve the service, not a general "please reconsider."

Documents you'll need for your Aetna (CVS Health) physical therapy appeal

The denial letter and the plan's visit-limit or criteria language
Physician referral and signed plan of care
Therapy evaluation and progress notes with functional measures
Surgical or hospital records where therapy follows an event
Any prior authorization approvals and their dates

What a physical therapy appeal can recover

Typical recovery for physical therapy cases runs Individual visits are modest, but a denied course of therapy over months adds up to a meaningful sum; the amount at stake is the plan's allowed amount times the denied visits.. The exact figure depends on the specific service and your plan's contracted rates.

Aetna (CVS Health) physical therapy appeals: frequently asked questions

Aetna (CVS Health) says I have 'plateaued'. Does that end coverage?

Not by itself. For Medicare and Medicare Advantage, skilled therapy that maintains function or prevents decline is covered when it requires a therapist's skills. For commercial plans, the answer depends on the plan's criteria, which you can request.

I used all my visits. Can I appeal a Aetna (CVS Health) visit limit?

You can ask whether the limit was applied correctly, whether the plan has an exception process, and whether a state mandate or the essential-health-benefit rule applies to your plan type. A benefit-limit denial is different from a medical-necessity denial.

My child's therapy was denied as 'developmental'. What now?

Habilitative services are an essential health benefit for ACA-compliant individual and small-group plans, and many states mandate coverage for specific conditions. The appeal should name the benefit category and the plan language.

How do I show therapy is still medically necessary to Aetna (CVS Health)?

Measurable goals and measurable progress or a documented need for skilled maintenance. Ask the therapist to record functional scores at each re-evaluation and to state why a home program is not sufficient.

What Apellica does for Aetna (CVS Health) physical therapy appeals

We file appeals against Aetna (CVS Health) specifically configured to its internal review process. Every physical therapy appeal embeds the criteria-disclosure demand, the procedural-rights anchor, the controlling-standard citation above, treating-provider attestation language, and the peer-reviewed evidence relevant to the denied service.

Cost: $0 upfront. We work on contingency for Aetna (CVS Health) appeals, if the appeal succeeds, we collect a percentage of the recovered claim value. If it fails, you owe nothing.

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Aetna (CVS Health) denied your physical therapy? Here is what to do next