What is POS

POS - Place Of Service

Place of Service denotes the place where the service was rendered within the facility. For e.g. the patient may be an inpatient or an outpatient or in an emergency room or in an ambulatory surgical center. Certain carriers adopt the Medicare coding for Place of service while certain others have their own coding systems. For e.g. Medicare adopts the following places of service: Inpatient 21, Outpatient 22, Office Visit 11, Emergency Room 23, Ambulatory Surgical Center 24 and so on.



Place of Service Code(s) - 01
Place of Service Name - Pharmacy**    
Place of Service Description - A facility or location where drugs and other medically related   items and services are sold, dispensed, or otherwise provided directly to patients.

02 - Unassigned - N/A

03 - School - A facility whose primary purpose is education.

04 - Homeless Shelter - A facility or location whose primary purpose is to provide temporary housing to homeless individuals (e.g., emergency shelters, individual or family shelters).

05-Indian Health Service Free-standing Facility- 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.

06-Indian Health Service/Provider-based Facility- 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.

07 - Tribal 638/Free-standing Facility-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.

08- Tribal 638/Provider-based Facility- 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.

09 - Prison/Correctional Facility-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.

10- Unassigned

11-Office-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.

12-Home-Location, other than a hospital or other facility, where the patient receives care in a private residence.

13-Assisted Living Facility-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.

14-Group Home *-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).

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

16-Temporary Lodging-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.

17-Walk-in Retail Health Clinic-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)

18-19 - Unassigned-N/A

20- Urgent Care Facility- 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.