POS code 57: Non-residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility.

The CMS definition

A location which provides treatment for substance (alcohol and drug) abuse on an ambulatory basis. Services include individual and group therapy and counseling, family counseling, laboratory tests, drugs and supplies, and psychological testing.

That is the description CMS publishes for POS 57, Non-residential Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, 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 57 is for substance abuse treatment on an ambulatory basis: the patient comes for treatment and does not live at the facility. That is the difference from POS 55, the residential version. The manual lists the effective date as October 1, 2003.

When it is used

• A service is furnished at a location that provides outpatient (ambulatory) alcohol and drug abuse treatment.
• If the patient lives at the facility, use POS 55. For opioid use disorder treatment programs with methadone and other medication assisted treatment, CMS lists POS 58.

Billing implications (Medicare)

The manual marks POS 57 NF, so Medicare physician fee schedule services are paid at the non-facility rate.

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. A claim with a missing or invalid POS is returned as unprocessable.

Look-alike codes

• POS 55: Residential substance abuse treatment. Live-in.
• POS 56: Psychiatric residential treatment center. Facility rate.
• POS 53: Community mental health center. Facility rate.

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 (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 rule above was read from these CMS pages on November 2, 2026. Payers revise policies and contracts, so confirm anything that affects a claim with the payer or your Medicare Administrative Contractor.