All 52 assigned POS codes, with the official CMS description and the Medicare rate each one selects.
Four rules that outrank the code
Pick a code for its official description and the rate it selects. First: these four rules, from the same manual section, can make that indicator the wrong answer for a given claim line.
01
The professional component of a diagnostic test pays the same either way.
For the professional component (PC) of diagnostic tests, the facility and non-facility rates are identical regardless of the POS code on the claim.
02
Outpatient therapy is always non-facility.
Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology procedures pay the non-facility rate regardless of whether they are furnished in a facility or non-facility setting.
03
All CORF services are non-facility.
Comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility services, and physician services to CORF patients billed under POS 62, pay the non-facility rate.
04
Hospital inpatient and outpatient override the encounter location.
For POS 21, 19 and 22 the facility rate is paid regardless of where the face-to-face encounter with the beneficiary actually occurred.
16Facility
30Non-facility
6Not classified
01
Pharmacy
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility or location where drugs and other medically related items and services are sold, dispensed, or otherwise provided directly to patients. (Effective October 1, 2003) (Revised, effective October 1, 2005)
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The location where health services and health related services are provided or received, through telecommunication technology. Patient is not located in their home when receiving health services or health related services through telecommunication technology. (Effective January 1, 2017) (Description change effective January 1, 2022, and applicable for Medicare April 1, 2022.)
Telehealth where the patient is NOT in their home. Compare POS 10, which is the patient-at-home case and is paid at the non-facility rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility or location whose primary purpose is to provide temporary housing to homeless individuals (e.g., emergency shelters, individual or family shelters). (Effective January 1, 2003)
A facility or location, owned and operated by the Indian Health Service, which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (surgical and non-surgical), and rehabilitation services to American Indians and Alaska Natives who do not require hospitalization. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
A facility or location, owned and operated by the Indian Health Service, which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (surgical and non-surgical), and rehabilitation services rendered by, or under the supervision of, physicians to American Indians and Alaska Natives admitted as inpatients or outpatients. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
A facility or location owned and operated by a federally recognized American Indian or Alaska Native tribe or tribal organization under a 638 agreement, which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (surgical and non-surgical), and rehabilitation services to tribal members who do not require hospitalization. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
A facility or location owned and operated by a federally recognized American Indian or Alaska Native tribe or tribal organization under a 638 agreement, which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (surgical and non-surgical), and rehabilitation services to tribal members admitted as inpatients or outpatients. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A prison, jail, reformatory, work farm, detention center, or any other similar facility maintained by either Federal, State or local authorities for the purpose of confinement or rehabilitation of adult or juvenile criminal offenders. (Effective July 1, 2006)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The location where health services and health related services are provided or received, through telecommunication technology. Patient is located in their home (which is a location other than a hospital or other facility where the patient receives care in a private residence) when receiving health services or health related services through telecommunication technology. (This code is effective January 1, 2022, and available to Medicare April 1, 2022.)
Telehealth where the patient IS in their home. Compare POS 02, which is the patient-not-at-home case and is paid at the facility rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Location, other than a hospital, skilled nursing facility (SNF), military treatment facility, community health center, State or local public health clinic, or intermediate care facility (ICF), where the health professional routinely provides health examinations, diagnosis, and treatment of illness or injury on an ambulatory basis.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Congregate residential facility with self-contained living units providing assessment of each resident's needs and on-site support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with the capacity to deliver or arrange for services including some health care and other services. (Effective October 1, 2003)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A residence, with shared living areas, where clients receive supervision and other services such as social and/or behavioral services, custodial service, and minimal services (e.g., medication administration). (Effective October 1, 2003) (Revised, effective April 1, 2004)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility/unit that moves from place-to-place equipped to provide preventive, screening, diagnostic, and/or treatment services. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A short term accommodation such as a hotel, camp ground, hostel, cruise ship or resort where the patient receives care, and which is not identified by any other POS code. (Effective January 1, 2008)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A walk-in health clinic, other than an office, urgent care facility, pharmacy or independent clinic and not described by any other Place of Service code, that is located within a retail operation and provides, on an ambulatory basis, preventive and primary care services. (This code is available for use immediately with a final effective date of May 1, 2010)
A location, not described by any other POS code, owned or operated by a public or private entity where the patient is employed, and where a health professional provides on-going or episodic occupational medical, therapeutic or rehabilitative services to the individual. (This code is available for use effective January 1, 2013 but no later than May 1, 2013)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A portion of an off-campus hospital provider based department which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (both surgical and nonsurgical), and rehabilitation services to sick or injured persons who do not require hospitalization or institutionalization. (Effective January 1, 2016)
The facility rate is paid regardless of where the face-to-face encounter with the beneficiary actually occurred.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Location, distinct from a hospital emergency room, an office, or a clinic, whose purpose is to diagnose and treat illness or injury for unscheduled, ambulatory patients seeking immediate medical attention. (Effective January 1, 2003)
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility, other than psychiatric, which primarily provides diagnostic, therapeutic (both surgical and nonsurgical), and rehabilitation services by, or under, the supervision of physicians to patients admitted for a variety of medical conditions.
The facility rate is paid regardless of where the face-to-face encounter with the beneficiary actually occurred.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A portion of a hospital’s main campus which provides diagnostic, therapeutic (both surgical and nonsurgical), and rehabilitation services to sick or injured persons who do not require hospitalization or institutionalization. (Description change effective January 1, 2016)
The facility rate is paid regardless of where the face-to-face encounter with the beneficiary actually occurred.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility, other than a hospital's maternity facilities or a physician's office, which provides a setting for labor, delivery, and immediate post-partum care as well as immediate care of new born infants.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A medical facility operated by one or more of the Uniformed Services. Military Treatment Facility (MTF) also refers to certain former U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) facilities now designated as Uniformed Service Treatment Facilities (USTF).
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A non-permanent location on the street or found environment, not described by any other POS code, where health professionals provide preventive, screening, diagnostic, and/or treatment services to unsheltered homeless individuals. (Effective October 1, 2023)
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility which primarily provides inpatient skilled nursing care and related services to patients who require medical, nursing, or rehabilitative services but does not provide the level of care or treatment available in a hospital.
The facility rate applies to a Part A resident. For a Part B resident of a SNF, bill POS 32, which is paid at the non-facility rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility which primarily provides to residents skilled nursing care and related services for the rehabilitation of injured, disabled, or sick persons, or, on a regular basis, health-related care services above the level of custodial care to other than individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility which provides room, board and other personal assistance services, generally on a long-term basis, and which does not include a medical component.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A location, not part of a hospital and not described by any other Place of Service code, that is organized and operated to provide preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, or palliative services to outpatients only. (Effective October 1, 2023)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility located in a medically underserved area that provides Medicare beneficiaries preventive primary medical care under the general direction of a physician.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility that provides inpatient psychiatric services for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness on a 24-hour basis, by or under the supervision of a physician.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness that provides a planned therapeutic program for patients who do not require full time hospitalization, but who need broader programs than are possible from outpatient visits to a hospital-based or hospital-affiliated facility.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility that provides the following services: outpatient services, including specialized outpatient services for children, the elderly, individuals who are chronically ill, and residents of the CMHC's mental health services area who have been discharged from inpatient treatment at a mental health facility; 24 hour a day emergency care services; day treatment, other partial hospitalization services, or psychosocial rehabilitation services; screening for patients being considered for admission to State mental health facilities to determine the appropriateness of such admission; and consultation and education services.
Intermediate Care Facility / Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility which primarily provides health-related care and services above the level of custodial care to individuals but does not provide the level of care or treatment available in a hospital or SNF.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility which provides treatment for substance (alcohol and drug) abuse to live-in residents who do not require acute medical care. Services include individual and group therapy and counseling, family counseling, laboratory tests, drugs and supplies, psychological testing, and room and board.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility or distinct part of a facility for psychiatric care which provides a total 24-hour therapeutically planned and professionally staffed group living and learning environment.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A location which provides treatment for substance (alcohol and drug) abuse on an ambulatory basis. Services include individual and group therapy and counseling, family counseling, laboratory tests, drugs and supplies, and psychological testing. (Effective October 1, 2023)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A location that provides treatment for opioid use disorder on an ambulatory basis. Services include methadone and other forms of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) (Effective January 1, 2020)
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A location where providers administer pneumococcal pneumonia and influenza virus vaccinations and submit these services as electronic media claims, paper claims, or using the roster billing method. This generally takes place in a mass immunization setting, such as, a public health center, pharmacy, or mall but may include a physician office setting.
Facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility that provides comprehensive rehabilitation services under the supervision of a physician to inpatients with physical disabilities. Services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, social or psychological services, and orthotics and prosthetics services.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility that provides comprehensive rehabilitation services under the supervision of a physician to outpatients with physical disabilities. Services include physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech pathology services.
All CORF services are paid at the non-facility rate, and physician services to CORF patients billed under POS 62 are paid at the non-facility rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility other than a hospital, which provides dialysis treatment, maintenance, and/or training to patients or caregivers on an ambulatory or home-care basis.
Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Center
Not classifiedby the Claims Processing Manual
A facility or location providing comprehensive medical and social services as part of the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). This includes, but is not limited to, primary care; social work services; restorative therapies, including physical and occupational therapy; personal care and supportive services; nutritional counseling; recreational therapy; and meals when the individual is enrolled in PACE. (Effective August 1, 2024)
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. This code is in neither, so CMS states no indicator for it. Check your payer's policy rather than assuming a rate.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A facility maintained by either State or local health departments that provides ambulatory primary medical care under the general direction of a physician.
Non-facilityrate under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
A certified facility which is located in a rural medically underserved area that provides ambulatory primary medical care under the general direction of a physician.
A place of service code looks like a descriptive field. It is really a payment switch, and that is the part most reference pages leave out.
Under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule many procedures carry two separate sets of practice expense RVUs: a facility set and a non-facility set. When a hospital or an ambulatory surgical centre supplies the room, the staff and the equipment, the physician is not bearing that overhead, so the facility rate is lower. When the service happens in the practice's own office, the practice is bearing it, and the non-facility rate is higher.
The POS code on the claim line is what chooses between the two. Nothing about the procedure changes. Bill the same CPT code under POS 11 and under POS 22 and you are asking for two different amounts of money.
Six codes nobody can give you an answer for
Section 20.4.2 lists 16 facility settings and 30 non-facility settings. That is 46 codes, and 52 are assigned. Codes 05, 06, 07, 08, 18 and 66 appear in neither list, so CMS states no indicator for them at all.
Any page that prints a confident facility indicator against those six is asserting something the manual does not say. This tool marks them not classified and leaves it there, which is less satisfying and more accurate.
Medicare is not every payer
Everything above is Medicare logic. Commercial payers frequently adopt it, and frequently do not. A facility indicator that is right for Medicare can still produce a denial from a commercial plan with its own place of service policy. Where money is at stake, the payer's own manual outranks this page and outranks CMS.
Terminology
Facility rate
The lower of the two MPFS amounts, used when an institution supplies the practice overhead.
Non-facility rate
The higher amount, used when the billing practice supplies its own room, staff and equipment.
Practice expense RVU
The component of the fee schedule covering overhead. It is the component that has separate facility and non-facility values, and therefore the reason POS matters at all.
Unassigned code
A two-digit number in the 01–99 range that CMS has never defined. Not billable, and not the same thing as a code with no facility indicator.
Common questions
What is place of service code 11?
POS 11 is Office. CMS defines it as a location, other than a hospital, skilled nursing facility, military treatment facility, community health center, State or local public health clinic or intermediate care facility, where the health professional routinely provides health examinations, diagnosis and treatment of illness or injury on an ambulatory basis.
For Medicare it selects the non-facility rate, which is normally the higher of the two because the practice is absorbing the overhead. That is the whole reason the same CPT code pays more under POS 11 than under POS 22.
What is the difference between POS 02 and POS 10?
Where the patient was sitting. POS 02 is telehealth where the patient is not at home, and it pays the facility rate. POS 10 is telehealth where the patient is at home, and it pays the non-facility rate.
POS 10 was created effective 1 January 2022 and became available to Medicare on 1 April 2022, so claims and guidance written before that date do not mention it. Mixing these two up changes the payment rate without changing anything clinically, which makes it one of the most common avoidable rate errors on a telehealth claim.
Which place of service codes pay the facility rate?
The Medicare Claims Processing Manual lists 16 of them: 02, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 31, 34, 41, 42, 51, 52, 53, 56 and 61.
It separately lists 30 non-facility settings. Between them that covers 46 codes, which leaves 6 assigned codes the manual does not classify at all: 05, 06, 07, 08, 18 and 66.
Why does the same CPT code pay differently depending on the place of service?
Because the practice expense component of the fee changes. Under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule many procedures carry two sets of practice expense RVUs: a facility set and a non-facility set. When a hospital or ASC is supplying the room, staff and equipment, the physician is not bearing that cost, so the facility rate is lower.
The POS code on the claim is what selects between them. It is a payment switch, not just a descriptive field.
Does the POS code always decide the rate?
No, and this is where the lookup stops being enough. Four rules in the manual override it.
For the professional component of a diagnostic test the facility and non-facility rates are identical regardless of POS. Outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy pay the non-facility rate wherever they are furnished. All CORF services pay non-facility. And for POS 21, 19 and 22 the facility rate is paid regardless of where the face-to-face encounter actually happened.
What is the difference between POS 31 and POS 32?
Which part of Medicare covers the resident. POS 31 is a skilled nursing facility and pays the facility rate, but the manual attaches that to a Part A resident. For a Part B resident of a SNF you bill POS 32, Nursing Facility, which pays the non-facility rate.
Same building, same bed, different code and a different rate, depending on the resident's coverage status.
What about codes 28 to 30, 35 to 40 and the other gaps?
Those are unassigned. CMS has never given them a meaning, so there is nothing to look up and nothing to bill. The unassigned ranges are 28–30, 35–40, 43–48, 59, 63–64, 67–70, 73–80 and 82–98.
That is why this page lists 52 codes rather than 99.
Is this the current code set?
The code list and descriptions come from the CMS Place of Service code set page, and the payment indicators from the Claims Processing Manual chapter 12 section 20.4.2 at revision 12823, issued 5 September 2024. The most recent addition to the code set is POS 66, PACE Center, effective 1 August 2024.
CMS revises both documents on their own schedules. For anything you are actually submitting, verify against the CMS pages linked at the bottom and against your payer's policy, because commercial payers do not always follow Medicare's facility logic.
Where these figures come from
Codes, names and descriptions are taken verbatim from the CMSPlace of Service code set, including CMS's own parenthetical effective dates. Display names are reproduced as published apart from a few spacing typos in the source table.
Facility and non-facility indicators, and every conditional rule quoted on this page, come from the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, chapter 12, section 20.4.2, “Site of Service Payment Differential” (PDF, revision 12823, issued 5 September 2024). Both documents are US government works and in the public domain.
This page carries no CPT code text. CPT is copyrighted by the American Medical Association, and place of service codes are a separate CMS code set that does not include it.
This is a reference convenience, not billing advice, and no page can be current with every payer at once. Verify against the CMS documents above and against your payer's own policy before submitting a claim. If you find a figure here that disagrees with either, tell me and it gets fixed.