Practice Management Benchmarks

Practice Management Benchmarks

Responsible Area Benchmark type Benchmark Notes

Finance/Patient Accounting Cash on hand 60-70 days operating cash on hand is considered appropriate Reflects ability to collect cash.

Patient Accounting Days In accounts receivable (A/R) 45-55 days - best practice
55-65 days - average
65+ days - poor Reflects ability to bill and collect accurately and quickly. No more than 30% should be older than 90 days on AR aging. Assumes 30-40% Medicaid. Higher Medicaid should result in lower A/R as Medicaid often pays faster than other payers.

Patient Accounting Outpatient claims handled per biller per month 1400-1600 - best practice
1600-2000 - average
2000 + - poor More claims handled is not necessarily good. Frequently, good cash flow requires billers to handle fewer claims, but handle them better.

Patient Registration Patients registered per hour New patient - 6-10
Established patients -15-20 Varies greatly depending on information system. These benchmarks assume collection of patient billing information during registration.

Patient Accounting Outpatient bill - date of service to date of claim submission 3-5 days Longer than 5 days indicates backlogs in
medical records, coding, etc.

Patient Accounting Claim denials No benchmarks available but need to stress strong follow-up, tracking and trending claims denied Claims denials should be followed up, tracked and trended to identify opportunities to resubmit individual claims and identify patterns for root cause analysis.

Scheduling Provider efficiency Treatment room utilized 85% of available time Combination of no-shows, walk ins and overbooking should produce sufficient patient volume to keep rooms utilized 80-85% of available time.

3/27/02

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Responsible Area	Benchmark type	Benchmark	Notes
Finance/Patient Accounting	Cash on hand	60-70 days operating cash on hand is considered appropriate	Reflects ability to collect cash.
Patient Accounting	Days In accounts receivable (A/R)	45-55 days - best practice 55-65 days - average 65+ days - poor	Reflects ability to bill and collect accurately and quickly. No more than 30% should be older than 90 days on AR aging. Assumes 30-40% Medicaid. Higher Medicaid should result in lower A/R as Medicaid often pays faster than other payers.
Patient Accounting	Outpatient claims handled per biller per month	1400-1600 - best practice 1600-2000 - average 2000 + - poor	More claims handled is not necessarily good. Frequently, good cash flow requires billers to handle fewer claims, but handle them better.
Patient Registration	Patients registered per hour	New patient - 6-10 Established patients -15-20	Varies greatly depending on information system. These benchmarks assume collection of patient billing information during registration.
Patient Accounting	Outpatient bill - date of service to date of claim submission	3-5 days	Longer than 5 days indicates backlogs in medical records, coding, etc.
Patient Accounting	Claim denials	No benchmarks available but need to stress strong follow-up, tracking and trending claims denied	Claims denials should be followed up, tracked and trended to identify opportunities to resubmit individual claims and identify patterns for root cause analysis.
Scheduling	Provider efficiency	Treatment room utilized 85% of available time	Combination of no-shows, walk ins and overbooking should produce sufficient patient volume to keep rooms utilized 80-85% of available time.