The 2026 Place of Service (POS) Codes Cheat Sheet: Office, Telehealth, Facility & More

Two digits on every claim quietly decide how much you get paid: the Place of Service (POS) code. The same CPT code can reimburse at a completely different rate — or get denied outright — depending on whether you bill it as office, hospital, or telehealth. Here’s a plain-English cheat sheet to the POS codes practices use most, and the facility-vs-non-facility distinction that catches almost everyone at least once. (POS codes are maintained by CMS and definitions can be updated — always confirm against the current CMS POS code set and your payer’s policy.)

Why POS code accuracy changes your reimbursement

Medicare and most commercial payers pay two different rates for the same CPT code: a non-facility rate (when you bear the overhead — rent, staff, equipment) and a lower facility rate (when a hospital or ASC is billing its own facility fee for that overhead). Bill POS 11 (office) when you provided the space and staff; bill a facility POS when you didn’t — mixing them up either under-bills you or invites a payer audit.

The codes you’ll use most

• 11 — Office. The default for services in your own practice space, paid at the higher non-facility rate.
• 02 — Telehealth, patient not in their home. The patient is at a clinic, pharmacy, or other facility for a real-time telehealth visit.
• 10 — Telehealth, patient in their home. The patient is at home for the visit. Picking 02 vs. 10 incorrectly has been one of the fastest-growing denial causes since telehealth POS codes split in 2022.
• 12 — Home. An in-person service delivered at the patient’s residence.
• 20 — Urgent care facility.
• 19 — Off-campus outpatient hospital and 22 — On-campus outpatient hospital. Both are facility rates; the campus distinction affects the hospital’s billing more than yours, but using the wrong one still triggers edits.
• 21 — Inpatient hospital.
• 23 — Emergency room — hospital.
• 24 — Ambulatory surgical center (ASC).
• 31 — Skilled nursing facility and 32 — Nursing facility. 31 is a covered Part A stay; 32 is typically custodial/long-term care — confusing the two is a common denial trigger.
• 81 — Independent laboratory.
• 99 — Other place of service. A last resort — a vague or unsupported POS is itself a red flag to payers.

Telehealth POS, modifiers, and 2026

Telehealth billing still trips up practices that got comfortable with pandemic-era rules. Pair the correct POS (02 or 10) with the right telehealth modifier — most payers now expect modifier 95 alongside POS 02/10, not as a substitute for it. Carrying last year’s POS habit into this year’s claim is a quiet, recurring source of telehealth denials.

Where POS errors turn into denials

A POS that doesn’t match the procedure, the place on file, or the rendering provider’s setting is a fast path to a claim denial or payer audit — and it’s entirely preventable.

• Mismatched POS and procedure. Billing a facility-only procedure under POS 11, or an office visit under a facility code.
• Stale POS defaults. EHR templates that default to one POS regardless of where the visit actually happened.
• Telehealth POS drift. Using 02 when the patient was actually at home (POS 10), or vice versa.

Make POS coding a system, not a guess

• Set POS per encounter, not per provider. The same physician can generate office, telehealth, and facility claims in the same week.
• Build payer-specific POS edits into your claim scrubber so a mismatch is caught before submission, not after a denial.
• Audit your top 10 CPT codes against the POS they’re billed under — it’s the fastest way to find a leak that’s been quietly costing you for months.

Not sure your claims are using the right place-of-service codes? A free coding and revenue cycle review from RCM Billing Solutions catches POS and reimbursement-rate errors before they cost you another claim.