Place of Service (POS) Codes in Medical Billing: Complete CMS List & 2026 Billing Guide

Place of service codes in medical billing are two-digit numbers that tell insurance payers exactly where a healthcare service happened. They sit in Box 24B of the CMS-1500 claim form and in Loop 2400 (SV105) on the electronic 837P transaction. Get the code right and the payer processes your claim at the correct rate. Get it wrong and you're looking at a denial, an underpayment, or both.

CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) maintains the full POS code set. The most recent update went live on February 17, 2026. Whether you're billing from a private office, a hospital outpatient department, or a telehealth session, the POS code you select directly affects how much you get paid.

This guide covers the codes you'll actually use, the facility vs. non-facility distinction that controls your reimbursement and the telehealth POS rules that trip up billing teams every week.

What are place of service codes in medical billing?

A place of service code is a standardized identifier that CMS created to report where a service was provided. Every professional claim (CMS-1500 or electronic 837P) requires one POS code per service line. Institutional claims on the UB-04 form don't use them.

The POS code does more than just record a location. Payers use it to decide which fee schedule applies, whether the facility or non-facility rate kicks in and whether the CPT code on the claim is valid for that setting. A mismatch between the POS code and the service billed is one of the fastest ways to trigger an automatic denial.

There are over 50 codes in the full CMS set, but most practices use fewer than 15 on a regular basis.

2026 CMS POS code list: most common codes in medical billing

The table below covers the POS codes that show up on the majority of professional claims. CMS publishes the complete set, but these are the ones your billing team should know cold.

POS Code	Setting	Facility or Non-Facility
02	Telehealth (patient NOT at home)	Facility
10	Telehealth (patient at home)	Non-facility
11	Office	Non-facility
12	Patient's home	Non-facility
19	Off-campus outpatient hospital	Facility
21	Inpatient hospital	Facility
22	On-campus outpatient hospital	Facility
23	Emergency room (hospital)	Facility
24	Ambulatory surgical center (ASC)	Facility
31	Skilled nursing facility	Facility
32	Nursing facility	Facility
49	Independent clinic	Non-facility
50	Federally qualified health center	Non-facility
65	End-stage renal disease facility	Non-facility

Wrong codes don't just cause denials. They can trigger audits and compliance flags that eat up weeks of your team's time. A clean denial management process catches POS errors before they become a pattern.

How facility vs. non-facility POS codes affect your reimbursement

Medicare and most commercial payers maintain two separate fee schedules for physician services: a facility rate and a non-facility rate. The non-facility rate is higher because it assumes the provider is covering overhead costs (rent, equipment, staff) out of their own pocket. The facility rate is lower because the facility bills separately for those costs.

The difference between the two rates ranges from 20% to 50%, depending on the CPT code. A provider who bills POS 22 (outpatient hospital) instead of POS 11 (office) for an in-office visit just handed the payer a reason to pay the lower facility rate. That's real money lost on every single claim.

A few things that determine which rate applies:

• POS 11, 12, 10, 49, 50 and 65 pay the non-facility (higher) rate

• POS 21, 22, 23, 24, 19 and 02 pay the facility (lower) rate

• The provider's physical location matters less than where the patient receives care

If you're running a therapy practice and billing for services delivered in your office, POS 11 is almost always correct. Accidentally defaulting to POS 22 because your system template was set up wrong is a silent revenue leak that can run for months before anyone notices. This kind of billing error shows up often when practices handle ABA billing and payer-specific rules across multiple locations.

Telehealth POS codes in medical billing: POS 02 vs. POS 10

CMS split telehealth into two codes and the distinction matters.

POS 10 is for telehealth visits where the patient is at home. It pays the non-facility rate. POS 02 is for telehealth visits where the patient is at any other location (a clinic, a school, a community center). It pays the facility rate. The rate difference can be 10% to 25% per claim.

The provider's location has zero impact on the code. A therapist working from a home office still bills POS 10 if the patient is at home.

Modifiers also matter here. Modifier 95 goes on audio-video telehealth claims. Modifier 93 goes on audio-only claims. The old Modifier GT is retired for Medicare professional claims since 2018. Practices still attaching GT to Medicare claims are getting CO-4 denials.

One more 2026 rule to watch: Medicare now requires an in-person visit within six months before the first mental health telehealth service. Miss that requirement and the telehealth claim comes back denied. Catching these common medical claim denial reasons early saves your team hours of rework.

How wrong POS codes cause claim denials in medical billing

System defaults that were never updated. Your practice management software might default every claim to POS 11. If a provider saw patients at a hospital outpatient department that day, every one of those claims goes out with the wrong code.

Telehealth code confusion. Billing POS 02 when the patient was at home (should be POS 10) doesn't always trigger an immediate denial, but it does reduce your payment to the facility rate. That's money you earned and didn't collect.

Credentialing gaps tied to location. Some payers require the rendering provider to be credentialed at the specific location where services are delivered. If your credentialing records don't match the POS code on the claim, expect a rejection.

The fix for all three? Audit your claim defaults quarterly. Run a report by POS code and compare it against your actual service locations. Most billing teams find at least a few claims per month going out with the wrong code.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you enter POS codes on a medical billing claim?

POS codes go in Box 24B on the CMS-1500 paper form. Each service line gets its own POS code. On electronic 837P claims, the POS code maps to Loop 2400, data element SV105. If you're billing multiple services from different locations on the same claim, each line carries the code for the setting where that specific service was delivered.

Does the POS code change how much a provider gets paid?

Yes. The POS code determines whether Medicare and most commercial payers apply the facility rate or the non-facility rate to a physician's service. The non-facility rate is typically 20% to 50% higher. Billing POS 11 (office) instead of POS 22 (outpatient hospital) for the same CPT code can mean hundreds of dollars more per claim over the course of a month.

What is the difference between POS 02 and POS 10 for telehealth?

POS 02 is for telehealth when the patient is at a location other than their home. POS 10 is specifically for telehealth when the patient is at home. POS 10 pays the higher non-facility rate. POS 02 pays the lower facility rate. The provider's location does not affect which code to use. It's determined entirely by where the patient is sitting during the visit.

Keeping your POS codes clean in 2026

Place of service codes in medical billing are a small field on the claim form, but they carry outsized weight on your revenue. A two-digit mistake can mean a denied claim, a reduced payment, or an audit flag that takes weeks to clear. Review your system defaults, train your front-desk staff on the facility vs. non-facility distinction and audit your telehealth POS codes at least once a quarter. The practices that collect consistently are the ones that treat these details like they matter. Because they do.