What are the CPT codes for telehealth services?

Telehealth uses the same CPT and HCPCS codes as an in-person visit. Medicare pays for a code delivered by telehealth when CMS places it on the Medicare telehealth services list, which holds more than 250 codes according to HHS. You then add place of service 02 or 10, and the Medicare Claims Processing Manual pairs each with modifier 95 for audio-video or 93 for audio-only. The CMS list includes psychotherapy codes such as 90832, 90834, and 90837, medical nutrition therapy codes 97802 to 97804, and office visits 99202 to 99215.

CPT is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association, which owns and maintains the code set. The descriptions in this guide are plain-English summaries for orientation. Bill from the current official descriptors. The dates attached to each Medicare rule below tell you how long it stays in force.

Which place of service code do you use: POS 02 or POS 10?

Use POS 10 when the patient is at home and POS 02 when the patient is anywhere else. CMS's telehealth FAQ defines POS 10 as telehealth provided in the patient's home, meaning a private residence rather than a hospital or other facility, and POS 02 as telehealth provided other than in the patient's home.

The payment rate follows the POS code alone. The Medicare Claims Processing Manual (chapter 26, section 10.5, revision issued August 2024) names POS 02 and POS 10 as the only two valid POS codes for Medicare telehealth billing and states that the choice of modifier does not change the rate. CMS finalized the non-facility rate for home-based telehealth starting January 1, 2024, according to the same FAQ.

Which telehealth modifiers do you use: 95, 93, FQ, GT, GQ, BB, and BC?

Start with the newest change. CMS's telehealth FAQ states that modifiers BB and BC become required on January 1, 2027, and that neither carries payment implications. BB marks telehealth furnished through a virtual platform by a practitioner who contracts with the entity that owns the platform or has a payment arrangement with it. BC marks telehealth furnished incident to a physician's or practitioner's professional service.

The modifiers that already exist work as follows.

Sources: Claims Processing Manual chapter 26, HHS billing and coding page, CMS MLN telehealth booklet, and CMS article SE22001.

Rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers bill differently from other practices. Through September 30, 2026 they reported HCPCS G2025 for non-behavioral telehealth. Starting October 1, 2026 they bill the individual CPT or HCPCS code with the appropriate telehealth modifier, as the CMS FAQ states.

What is the difference between modifiers GT and 95?

Modifier 95 describes a synchronous audio-video service, and Medicare pairs it with POS 02 or POS 10 on telehealth claims. Modifier GT is narrower in CMS's current guidance. The CMS telehealth booklet limits it to institutional claims from distant-site practitioners billing under the critical access hospital optional payment Method II.

A solo practitioner billing a professional claim to Medicare therefore starts from POS and modifier 95 or 93, and leaves GT to that critical access hospital situation. Commercial payers and Medicaid programs set their own modifier rules.

Can you bill audio-only telehealth, and which modifier applies?

Yes, under conditions that depend on the type of care. HHS states that Medicare patients can permanently receive behavioral and mental health telehealth at home, with audio-only communication allowed, and that two-way real-time audio-only is permitted for a patient at home when the practitioner can use video but the patient cannot or declines to. Bill audio-only visits with modifier 93, or FQ for rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.

For non-behavioral care, the CMS FAQ states that beneficiaries can receive audio-only telehealth in their homes through December 31, 2027. Starting January 1, 2028, the FAQ describes audio-only as available for behavioral health services furnished to a patient in their home, under the same video-capable practitioner condition.

What is the status of Medicare telehealth flexibilities?

Congress extended the broad Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027, according to HHS's policy updates page (last updated February 5, 2026). Behavioral health telehealth sits on a permanent footing, so the dates below separate the two.

Source: CMS Telehealth FAQ, questions 1, 2, 5, 6, and 11, and the HHS pages above. CMS also states that patients who began receiving mental health telehealth at home on or before December 31, 2027 are treated as established and need an in-person visit every 12 months, instead of the 6-month visit.

Several practitioner types are permanent Medicare distant-site providers according to HHS: physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse-midwives, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, registered dietitians or nutrition professionals, certified registered nurse anesthetists, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors. Health coaches do not appear on that list. CMS's telehealth booklet adds that all distant-site providers follow state licensing rules, and that Medicare enrollment is separate for each state where a practitioner provides services.

Which CPT codes do therapists, dietitians, and physicians bill by telehealth?

Each code in the table appears on CMS's CY 2026 Medicare telehealth services list. The list names services payable under the Physician Fee Schedule when furnished through telehealth. The plain-English glosses below are written for orientation and do not reproduce the AMA's descriptors.

Source: CMS List of Telehealth Services for calendar year 2026.

A code's presence on the list means CMS recognizes it for telehealth payment. Confirm the coverage conditions for the underlying service with each payer. For the full mental health code set beyond telehealth, see therapy billing codes. For dietitian codes and superbill modifiers, see CPT codes 97802 and 97803 for dietitian superbills.

Does Medicare pay for the 98000-series telemedicine codes?

No. The AMA created CPT 98000 through 98015 as telemedicine E/M codes, and CMS assigns them status indicator I, which means not valid for Medicare purposes. In the CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule final rule, CMS explains that these codes are not separately payable in person, so they are not separately payable by telehealth, and finalized its decision to leave 98000 through 98015 off the list.

Medicare telehealth E/M visits therefore use the office and outpatient codes 99202 to 99215, with POS 02 or 10 and the telehealth modifier. The same rule recounts that CPT 98016, a brief virtual check-in code, mirrors the descriptor of HCPCS G2012. Neither 98016 nor G2012 appears on the CY 2026 telehealth list.

Can G2211 be billed with telehealth services?

G2211 appears on CMS's CY 2026 Medicare telehealth services list, so CMS recognizes it for telehealth payment. It is an add-on code for visit complexity that attaches to office and outpatient E/M visits (99202 to 99205 and 99211 to 99215) and, since January 1, 2026, to home or residence E/M visits, according to chapter 12 of the Medicare Claims Processing Manual (section revision issued 05-07-26). The manual does not restrict G2211 by specialty.

Because G2211 needs one of those E/M families as its base code, a therapist billing 90837 or a dietitian billing 97803 has no G2211 base code on that claim.

CMS's CY 2027 proposed rule fact sheet (July 14, 2026) proposes converting G2211 into a modifier appended to the E/M code, raising payment by 16 percent. That is a proposal until CMS finalizes it.

How do commercial payers handle telehealth codes and modifiers?

Each payer sets its own rules, and HHS tells practitioners to confirm them directly. HHS's private insurance page (last updated January 17, 2025) advises you to contact the insurers you accept to learn which telehealth services they reimburse, to ask patients to verify coverage before appointments, and to use HHS's policy finder for state rules. Its Medicaid page adds that Medicaid reimbursement policies vary from state to state.

Ask each payer four questions before you submit the first claim:

1. Which place of service code does the payer want for a patient at home, 10 or 02, or does it follow its own convention?
2. Does the payer require modifier 95, 93, or GT, and on which services?
3. Does the payer cover audio-only visits, and for which services?
4. Does the payer accept the 98000-series telemedicine codes or require the office visit codes?

Write the answers into your payer notes so each claim follows the contract in front of you.

How do you bill telehealth claims from Practice Better?

Practice Better's telehealth sessions and billing and insurance tools share one client record. The telehealth page describes accepting session payments and billing insurance from one workflow. The billing page describes Claim.MD integration for US customers, covering eligibility checks, claim submission, status tracking, and rejection management, plus format-ready CMS-1500 exports. Without a Claim.MD account, you can set up an insurance billing profile, export CMS-1500 claims, and send superbills, then submit claims outside Practice Better.

For the setup side of virtual care, read the telehealth starter guide, and compare platforms in best HIPAA-compliant telehealth platforms. For the wider code set, see a wellness pro's guide to CPT codes.

Start a free trial of Practice Better to run telehealth sessions, notes, and insurance claims from one record.

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Key takeaways

• Telehealth uses the same CPT and HCPCS codes as in-person care. Medicare pays for the codes on CMS's telehealth services list, which holds more than 250 codes according to HHS.
• Bill POS 10 for a patient at home and POS 02 for any other location. CMS pays POS 10 at the non-facility rate and POS 02 at the facility rate, and the modifier does not change the rate.
• Modifier 95 marks audio-video telehealth and 93 marks audio-only. CMS limits GT to critical access hospital Method II institutional claims, and modifiers BB and BC become required on January 1, 2027.
• CMS assigns CPT 98000 through 98015 status indicator I and left them off the telehealth list, so Medicare telehealth E/M visits use 99202 to 99215. G2211 is on the list and attaches to office, outpatient, and home or residence E/M visits.
• The broad Medicare telehealth flexibilities run through December 31, 2027. Behavioral health telehealth at home is permanent, and physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists lose Medicare telehealth eligibility on January 1, 2028.

Frequently asked questions

What are the differences between modifiers GT and 95 in telemedicine billing?

Modifier 95 signals a real-time audio-video telehealth service. The Medicare Claims Processing Manual pairs it with place of service 02 or 10, using modifier 93 for audio-only instead. CMS limits modifier GT in its telehealth booklet to institutional claims from distant-site practitioners billing under the critical access hospital optional payment Method II. Commercial and Medicaid payers set their own modifier rules, so confirm each payer's requirement.

Can G2211 be billed with telehealth services?

CMS lists G2211 on its CY 2026 Medicare telehealth services list. G2211 is an add-on to office or outpatient E/M visits (99202 to 99205 and 99211 to 99215) and to home or residence E/M visits, so it attaches only to those base codes. CMS has proposed turning G2211 into a modifier for CY 2027, and that proposal is not final.

What are the CPT codes for office visits?

Office and outpatient E/M visits use 99202 to 99205 for new patients and 99211 to 99215 for established patients. CMS lists all of them on its CY 2026 Medicare telehealth services list, so you bill the same code for a telehealth office visit and add place of service 02 or 10.

Which place of service code applies to telehealth?

Use place of service 10 when the patient is in their home and place of service 02 when the patient is anywhere else. Under Medicare, POS 10 pays at the non-facility rate and POS 02 pays at the facility rate.

Does Medicare pay for the 98000-series telemedicine codes?

No. CMS assigns CPT 98000 through 98015 status indicator I, meaning not valid for Medicare, and declined to add them to the Medicare telehealth services list in the CY 2026 final rule. Bill telehealth E/M visits with the office and outpatient codes instead.

Does Medicare pay for audio-only telehealth?

Yes, under conditions. Behavioral health services can be delivered audio-only to a patient at home when the practitioner can use video and the patient cannot or declines to. Audio-only for non-behavioral care at home is available through December 31, 2027. Bill audio-only visits with modifier 93, or FQ for rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.

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