POS code 49: Independent Clinic.

The CMS definition

A location, not part of a hospital and not described by any other Place of Service code, that is organized and operated to provide preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, or palliative services to outpatients only.

That is the description CMS publishes for POS 49, Independent Clinic, in the Place of Service Code Set and in chapter 26 of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual. In the manual’s table it carries the Non-facility rate (NF) designation for payment under the Physician Fee Schedule.

What it means in plain terms

POS 49 is a catch-all for outpatient clinics that no more specific code describes. Before using it, check that the clinic is not an office (11), an urgent care facility (20), a retail clinic (17), a federally qualified health center (50), a rural health clinic (72) or a hospital department (19, 22).

When it is used

• A clinic that is not part of a hospital furnishes outpatient care and no other POS code describes it.
• CMS describes walk-in retail clinics (17) as a clinic "other than an office, urgent care facility, pharmacy or independent clinic," which shows 49 is the fallback these more specific codes are carved out of.

Billing implications (Medicare)

The manual marks POS 49 NF, so Medicare physician fee schedule services are paid at the non-facility rate.

The CMS code set page and chapter 26 of the manual show different effective dates for code 49 (October 1, 2023 on the code set page, October 1, 2003 in the manual). If the date matters for your claim, confirm it with your MAC.

The general rule in section 10.6 of the manual is that the POS code “generally” reflects the actual setting where the beneficiary receives the face-to-face service, with two exceptions: a registered hospital inpatient or outpatient is reported with the hospital code regardless of where the encounter happens. The code goes in item 24B of the paper Form CMS-1500 or the matching field of the 837P.

Look-alike codes

• POS 11: Office. Where the health professional routinely provides ambulatory examinations and treatment.
• POS 50: Federally qualified health center.
• POS 72: Rural health clinic.
• POS 71: State or local public health clinic.
• POS 20: Urgent care facility.

For every code in one list, with the 02 vs 10 vs 11 telehealth verdict, see the place of service code lookup.

Sources

• CMS: Place of Service Code Set — official code list and descriptions, page database updated May 2, 2024 (retrieved 2026-11-02)
• CMS: Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 26 (Rev. 12779, issued 08-09-24) — sections 10.5 and 10.6, facility and non-facility designations and special considerations (retrieved 2026-11-02)

Every definition and rule above was read from these CMS pages on November 2, 2026. Payers revise code lists, contracts and policies, so confirm anything that affects a claim with the payer. CMS itself tells billers to check each payer (Medicare, Medicaid, private plans) for how it reimburses each code.