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POS 02: Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home

POS 02 is the CMS place of service code for Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home, defined as the location where health services and health related services are provided or received, through telecommunication technology. On Medicare professional claims paid under the physician fee schedule, POS 02 takes the facility rate (Pub. 100-04, chapter 26). Medicare accepts only POS 02 and POS 10 on a telehealth claim. CMS added it effective January 1, 2017.

Compiled from CMS files by the QuickIntell RCM Editorial Team · Data effective · Method: reference methodology · Report a data correction

Data currency: CMS Place of Service code set: CMS page last modified February 17, 2026; code table updated May 2, 2024 (effective August 1, 2024). Next CMS release: no fixed schedule (CMS posts new place of service codes on its code set page, usually months before Medicare's effective date).

Place of service code
02
Medicare fee schedule rate
Facility rate
Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.5
In effect since
January 1, 2017
description revised January 1, 2022
Reported on
Professional claims
CMS-1500 item 24B or the 837P
Setting group
Telehealth
Telehealth
Yes
one of the two Medicare telehealth POS codes

CMS definition of POS 02

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.)

CMS Place of Service code set, Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home

POS 02 has been in the national code set since January 1, 2017, and its description was revised effective January 1, 2022. For Medicare the revised description applies from April 1, 2022.

Facility or non-facility rate for POS 02

Medicare pays a physician fee schedule service billed with this code at the facility rate. The facility rate carries a smaller practice-expense component than the non-facility rate, because in a facility setting the facility, not the practitioner, bears the cost of the room, the staff and most supplies; where the facility is a Medicare provider it is paid for those costs on its own claim.

Chapter 12, section 20.4.2 of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual lists this setting as “Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home” on its facility list. The rule behind the list is that the code reflects where the beneficiary received the face-to-face service, except that services to a registered hospital inpatient or outpatient are paid at the facility rate wherever the encounter took place.

Use POS 02 when the patient is somewhere other than home during a Medicare telehealth service, for example in a clinic, a hospital department or a skilled nursing facility, and pair it with modifier 95 for audio and video or modifier 93 when the service may be furnished by audio only (chapter 26, section 10.5). By billing POS 02 with a covered telehealth code, the distant-site practitioner certifies that the patient was at an eligible originating site (chapter 12, section 190.6.1).

Not every service has two rates: when the facility and non-facility amounts are the same, as they are for the professional component of a diagnostic test, the place of service does not change the payment. Outpatient therapy and comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility services are always paid at the non-facility rate.

Medicare instructions for this setting

Chapter 26, section 10.5 gives special considerations for telehealth claims that cover POS 02 and POS 10 together; the summary above restates the rule for POS 02, and the manual's full text is quoted on the place of service hub.

POS 02 vs POS 10: what changes

Both codes mark a Medicare telehealth service, and since 2024 they are the only two place of service codes Medicare accepts on a telehealth claim (chapter 26, section 10.5). The deciding fact is where the patient is: POS 10 when the patient is at home, POS 02 when the patient is anywhere else. The choice sets the payment, because POS 02 is paid at the facility rate and POS 10 at the non-facility rate, while the telehealth modifier (95 for audio and video, 93 for audio only) only states the modality.

Place of service 02 and 10 compared
POSSettingMedicare rateIn effect since
02Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s HomeFacility rateJanuary 1, 2017
10Telehealth Provided in Patient’s HomeNon-facility rateJanuary 1, 2022

Denials when POS 02 does not fit the claim

A place of service that conflicts with the procedure, the patient's registration or the payer's policy comes back with one of three codes. Claim adjustment reason code 5 means the procedure code or bill type is inconsistent with the place of service; reason code 58 means the payer considers the setting inappropriate or invalid for the service; and remark code M77 marks a missing, incomplete, invalid or inappropriate place of service. Medicare returns a line whose POS is missing, unassigned or incompatible with a site-specific procedure as unprocessable with CARC 16 and M77, so the fix is a corrected claim rather than an appeal (Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.6).

Where QuickIntell fits with place of service

QuickRCM covers eligibility, claim readiness, denials, posting and A/R with configurable automation and human review, the stage where the place of service code is checked against the setting, the registration and the modifier before the claim goes out, and where CARC 5, CARC 58 and M77 denials are worked.

See QuickRCM for claim readinessSee QuickCode for coder reviewBook a meeting

Frequently asked questions

What is place of service code 02?

POS 02, Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home, is defined by CMS as follows: 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. POS 02 has been in the national code set since January 1, 2017, and its description was revised effective January 1, 2022. For Medicare the revised description applies from April 1, 2022. It sits in the telehealth group with POS 10.

Does POS 02 pay the facility or the non-facility rate?

The facility rate. Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.5 designates POS 02 F, so a physician fee schedule service billed with it is paid at the facility rate, the lower practice-expense amount paid when the setting rather than the practitioner carries the cost of space, staff and supplies. Chapter 12, section 20.4.2 lists it as "Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient’s Home" on the facility list. Services whose two rates are equal, such as the professional component of a diagnostic test, pay the same either way (chapter 12, section 20.4.2).

When should a claim use POS 02?

Use POS 02 when the patient is somewhere other than home during a Medicare telehealth service, for example in a clinic, a hospital department or a skilled nursing facility, and pair it with modifier 95 for audio and video or modifier 93 when the service may be furnished by audio only (chapter 26, section 10.5). By billing POS 02 with a covered telehealth code, the distant-site practitioner certifies that the patient was at an eligible originating site (chapter 12, section 190.6.1).

Which modifier goes with POS 02 on a telehealth claim?

Modifier 95 when the service is furnished with real-time audio and video, or modifier 93 when the service may be furnished by audio only. Medicare pairs one of them with POS 02; the modifier identifies the modality, while the place of service code alone decides between the facility and non-facility rate (chapter 26, section 10.5).

Sources

Every figure on this page is taken from the CMS publications below, as released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Projection built 2026-10-10. Verify against the primary file before billing or contracting decisions. The reference methodology explains how each figure is computed from these files.

Disclaimer

The definition is reproduced from the CMS Place of Service code set; the Medicare rate and instructions are from Pub. 100-04, chapters 12 and 26. Medicaid and commercial plans publish their own place of service rules. Not legal, clinical or billing advice.

Found a figure that does not match the CMS file? Report a data correction with the CMS file and the value you expected; the request reaches the editorial team through the contact form.