Best practices for reducing accounts receivable days

Abstract

This survey suggests that healthcare organizations of any size, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, can attain superior performance in their gross revenue holding in Medical Records. The directors who participated in the survey have demonstrated that they have overcome the performance barriers cited most often. If no standards currently exist regarding DNFB for the Medical Records departments, directors should establish aggressive standards that compare to those of better performers. Directors should have a standard of four to five days or fewer of gross revenue in AR holding in Medical Records. The standard for outpatient accounts should be to code all accounts within the bill hold timeframe. Every one-day reduction equates to a one-day improvement in the time that a bill can be billed and potentially collected. A healthcare organization's financial performance indicators, including days of revenue in accounts receivable and cash collected as a percentage of net revenue, will be improved as a result.