Reducing AR Days Without Burning Out Your Billing Team

For most specialty practices, reducing Accounts Receivable (AR) Days remains a top financial priority. Faster collections improve cash flow, strengthen financial stability, and create opportunities for growth.

According to MGMA’s July 2026 polling, 43% of medical group leaders say their days in A/R are about where they were a year ago, and 32% say it’s gotten worse only 22% report real improvement. The organizations and practices that did improve didn’t get there by working harder: MGMA’s own respondents described deliberate operational changes, not a single quick fix.

AR Performance Starts Long Before a Claim Is Submitted

One of the most common mistakes healthcare organizations make is focusing exclusively on collections. By the time a claim reaches the follow-up stage, most of the factors influencing reimbursement have already occurred. This is exactly what HFMA’s pre-billing standards are built to catch: the industry-standard measure of claims still sitting unbilled after the visit is complete, what HFMA calls Days in Discharged Not Final Billed, exists precisely because the biggest lever on AR Days often sits before a claim is ever submitted, not after.

Common causes of delayed reimbursement include:

• Incomplete or inaccurate documentation
• Eligibility and prior authorization issues
• Coding errors and charge entry delays
• Claim submission backlogs and unresolved denials

Focus Resources Where They Matter Most

Not every outstanding account carries the same financial risk. High-performing revenue cycle teams prioritize work by potential impact, not chronological order, typically using the standard aging framework, 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, and 120+ days, that HFMA uses to define Aged AR.

What counts as “good” performance within that framework is specialty- and size-specific. MGMA’s benchmarking data segments accounts receivable performance by specialty, practice size, and ownership type for exactly this reason: a generic AR Days target borrowed from primary care tells a neurosurgery or spine practice very little about its actual performance.

Denials deserve particular attention. MGMA has found denials and appeals account for roughly half of all revenue leakage industry-wide, about twice what front-end issues cause. Organizations should regularly evaluate high-dollar aging accounts, payer-specific denial trends, claims nearing filing deadlines, and underpaid claims requiring escalation. The goal is not to work harder. It’s to work where the dollars are.

Revenue Cycle Is Not Just the Billing Department’s Job

Scheduling teams influence eligibility and authorization accuracy. Clinical teams influence documentation quality. Coding teams influence claim accuracy. Practice administrators influence workflow efficiency and accountability. When these groups operate independently, revenue cycle challenges become harder to identify and resolve. Organizations that consistently outperform industry benchmarks build strong communication and shared ownership of financial performance across all of them.

Leverage Data to Drive Faster Decisions

Many practices already have substantial financial data but struggle to turn it into action. Two industry frameworks are worth anchoring to: HFMA’s MAP Keys, which set standardized, auditable definitions for revenue cycle KPIs, and MGMA’s benchmarking data, which shows how those same metrics compare against specialty- and size-matched peer practices.

The metrics worth tracking every month, defined consistently:

• Net Days in Accounts Receivable: net AR divided by average daily net patient service revenue
• Clean Claim Rate: the percentage of claims that pass through without manual correction
• First-pass denial rate: MGMA’s statistics put the industry standard at 8% over the past four years

Tracking these the same way every month, using industry-standard definitions rather than internal shorthand, turns a report into an early-warning system. Consistent visibility creates accountability, and accountability drives performance.

Protect Your Team While Improving Results

One of the greatest risks in revenue cycle management is achieving short-term gains at the expense of employee engagement. MGMA’s own July 2026 polling backs this up directly: among practices whose days in A/R got worse, staffing vacancies, turnover, and difficulty replacing experienced AR staff were among the most common reasons cited. Asking a short-staffed team to do more doesn’t just fail to hold up. It’s often the reason performance slips in the first place.

Instead, leaders should focus on standardizing workflows, reducing manual processes, improving reporting visibility, and eliminating redundant tasks. When teams have the tools, training, and processes they need, performance improves naturally.

Sustainable Improvement Requires Operational Excellence

Reducing AR Days is not simply a revenue cycle objective. It’s the result of effective operations across the entire organization. Practices that consistently improve financial performance focus on prevention rather than correction, align departments around commonly defined goals, and build systems that support long-term success.

One practice in MGMA’s July 2026 polling reported cutting days in A/R from 67 to under 34 after an RCM overhaul, real proof that deliberate operational change moves this number in ways longer hours never will. The organizations that achieve the strongest results are rarely the ones working the hardest. They are the ones operating smartest.