Most practices track the wrong metrics and wonder why their billing performance doesn't improve. Days in A/R, collection rate, denial rate, clean claim rate, and net collection rate—these five KPIs tell you everything you need to know about your billing health.
Forget about vanity metrics like total charges or number of claims submitted. What matters is how quickly you collect money, how often claims are paid on first submission, and what percentage of your expected revenue actually hits your bank account. These metrics reveal the true efficiency of your revenue cycle.
Pro tip: Benchmark your KPIs against specialty-specific standards, not general healthcare averages. A 95% clean claim rate might be excellent for primary care but mediocre for surgery. Track trends over time, not just point-in-time snapshots, to identify improving or declining performance patterns.