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POS 15: Mobile Unit

POS 15 is the CMS place of service code for Mobile Unit, defined as a facility/unit that moves from place-to-place equipped to provide preventive, screening, diagnostic, and/or treatment services. On Medicare professional claims paid under the physician fee schedule, POS 15 takes the non-facility rate (Pub. 100-04, chapter 26). CMS added it effective January 1, 2003.

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
15
Medicare fee schedule rate
Non-facility rate
Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.5
In effect since
January 1, 2003
Reported on
Professional claims
CMS-1500 item 24B or the 837P
Setting group
Schools, shelters, workplaces, outreach, mobile units and mass immunization

CMS definition of POS 15

A facility/unit that moves from place-to-place equipped to provide preventive, screening, diagnostic, and/or treatment services.

(Effective January 1, 2003)

CMS Place of Service code set, Mobile Unit

POS 15 has been in the national code set since January 1, 2003.

Facility or non-facility rate for POS 15

Medicare pays a physician fee schedule service billed with this code at the non-facility rate. The non-facility rate carries the larger practice-expense component, because the practitioner bears the cost of the space, the clinical staff, the equipment and the supplies used for the service.

Chapter 12, section 20.4.2 of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual lists this setting as “Mobile Unit” on its non-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.

Report POS 15 only when the mobile unit serves no setting that has a code of its own: a unit sent to a physician office or a skilled nursing facility reports that entity's code, and the rate follows the code reported (chapter 26, section 10.5).

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

Special considerations for Mobile Unit Settings (Code 15)

When services are furnished in a mobile unit, they are often provided to serve an entity for which another POS code exists. For example, a mobile unit may be sent to a physician’s office or a skilled nursing facility. If the mobile unit is serving an entity for which another POS code already exists, providers should use the POS code for that entity. However, if the mobile unit is not serving an entity which could be described by an existing POS code, the providers are to use the Mobile Unit POS code 15. Apply the nonfacility rate to payments for services designated as being furnished in POS code 15; apply the appropriate facility or nonfacility rate for the POS code designated when a code other than the mobile unit code is indicated.

A physician or practitioner's office, even if mobile, qualifies to serve as a telehealth originating site. Assuming such an office also fulfills the requirement that it be located in either a rural health professional shortage area as defined under section 332(a)(1)(A) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254e(a)(1)(A)) or in a county that is not included in a Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined in section 1886(d)(2)(D) of the Act, the originating physician's office should use POS code 11 (Office) in order to ensure appropriate payment for services on the list of Medicare Telehealth Services.

Quoted from the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.5.

Denials when POS 15 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 15?

POS 15, Mobile Unit, is defined by CMS as follows: A facility/unit that moves from place-to-place equipped to provide preventive, screening, diagnostic, and/or treatment services. POS 15 has been in the national code set since January 1, 2003. It sits in the schools, shelters, workplaces, outreach, mobile units and mass immunization group with POS 03, POS 04, POS 09, POS 18, POS 27 and POS 60.

Does POS 15 pay the facility or the non-facility rate?

The non-facility rate. Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Pub. 100-04, chapter 26, section 10.5 designates POS 15 NF, so a physician fee schedule service billed with it is paid at the non-facility rate, the higher practice-expense amount paid when the practitioner carries the cost of the space, staff, equipment and supplies. Chapter 12, section 20.4.2 lists it as "Mobile Unit" on the non-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 15?

Report POS 15 only when the mobile unit serves no setting that has a code of its own: a unit sent to a physician office or a skilled nursing facility reports that entity's code, and the rate follows the code reported (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.