POS 02: Telehealth Provided Other Than in Patient's Home
POS 02 is the place of service code for telehealth delivered while the patient is anywhere other than their home, such as a clinic, school, or skilled nursing facility. Medicare pays POS 02 claims at the lower facility rate, so misusing it instead of POS 10 for home visits leaves money on the table.
- Setting
- Telehealth, patient NOT at home
- Rate type
- Facility (lower payment)
- Common pairing
- Modifier 95 with 99202-99215
- Watch out for
- Patient was home = POS 10, not 02
What does POS 02 mean?
POS 02 tells the payer the service was delivered via telehealth while the patient was somewhere other than their home. The official CMS descriptor: "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."
The code describes the patient's location, not yours. Your provider can be in the office, at home, or in another state; if the patient joined the video visit from a school nurse's office, a shelter, or a skilled nursing facility, the claim is POS 02. See the full code table at our Place of Service reference.
When do you use POS 02?
Use POS 02 when all three are true: the encounter was telehealth, the patient was not in a private residence, and the payer follows the CMS POS code set (nearly all do). Typical scenarios:
- Patient connects from a community clinic or rural health clinic acting as an originating site.
- Student seen via video from the school health office.
- Resident of an assisted living or nursing facility joining from a common area device.
- Patient calling from work, a car, or any public location.
If the patient was in their own home, hotel room, or temporary lodging, that is POS 10. Pair either code with modifier 95 for audio-video visits or modifier 93 for audio-only.
How does POS 02 affect payment?
POS 02 is paid at the Medicare facility rate, the same lower rate a hospital-based clinic gets, because CMS assumes another site is absorbing the overhead. POS 10 pays the full non-facility rate.
Real numbers: in 2026 the national average Medicare payment for 99214 is roughly $135.61 at the non-facility rate but about $84.50 at the facility rate, before locality adjustment. Bill a home telehealth visit as POS 02 instead of POS 10 and you hand back about $51 on that one claim. A provider doing eight home telehealth visits a day miscoded as POS 02 loses over $2,000 a week. Run your own codes through the Medicare fee calculator to see the spread.
What are the common POS 02 errors and denials?
The most expensive error is not a denial at all: POS 02 on a home visit pays, just at the lower rate, so nothing flags it. The fix is a corrected claim with POS 10, worth filing when volume is material.
Actual denials you will see:
- CARC 5 (procedure inconsistent with place of service) when a code not on the payer's telehealth list is billed with POS 02. Check it in the denial code lookup.
- CO-16 for a missing telehealth modifier on commercial claims that require 95 even with POS 02.
- Rejections when POS 02 is combined with in-person-only services like injections or specimen collection on the same claim line date.
When a payer rep says the claim "denied for POS," ask specifically whether their plan recognizes POS 02 and 10 separately; a few Medicaid plans still map both to one telehealth rate.
Frequently asked questions
Both are telehealth codes, but the deciding factor is where the patient sat during the visit. POS 10 means the patient was in their home (including hotels and temporary lodging). POS 02 means they were anywhere else: a clinic, school, workplace, or nursing facility. Medicare pays POS 10 at the higher non-facility rate and POS 02 at the lower facility rate.
For Medicare, POS 02 or 10 identifies the claim as telehealth, and modifier 95 confirms real-time audio-video (modifier 93 flags audio-only). Many commercial payers still want modifier 95 on every telehealth line regardless of POS, so most billing teams append it by default. The modifier does not change the payment rate; the POS code does.
POS 02 maps to the Medicare facility payment rate, which strips out the practice expense RVUs that cover office overhead. The logic is that when the patient is at a facility, that facility bears the overhead. POS 10 maps to the non-facility rate, which includes full practice expense. For a mid-level E/M visit the gap can exceed 50 dollars per encounter.
No. Before 2022, POS 02 simply meant "telehealth" regardless of patient location. CMS revised the descriptor effective January 1, 2022 to "Telehealth Provided Other than in Patient's Home" and created POS 10 for home-based telehealth. Claims systems that never updated their defaults are still leaking revenue on home visits coded as 02.
Sources & further reading
Reviewed by the ImmediCare Solutions RCM team
Certified billers and coders handling claims across 50+ specialties nationwide. This entry is reviewed against current payer policy and CMS rules. Last review: Jul 5, 2026.
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