How Long Does It Take You to Get Paid?
Days in A/R tells you how many days of charges are sitting uncollected. It’s the clearest early warning in the revenue cycle: when it creeps up, denials, payer slowdowns, or follow-up gaps are piling up long before they show up as lower collections.
- Calculates days in A/R from two report totals
- Compares you against the 30–40 day range most specialties target
- Puts a dollar figure on the cash tied up beyond target
Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.
Two numbers from your A/R report
Everything outstanding — payer and patient balances.
…this many days
Days in accounts receivable
60.0 days
About $225K of cash is tied up beyond a 35-day target — money you have earned but can’t use yet.
Avg daily charges
$9,000
over 90 days
Cash above target
$225K
vs. 35 days
A/R over 120 days
$97K
collectability is falling
MGMA calculates days in A/R on gross charges; HFMA and many hospitals use net revenue, which produces a different number. Compare against benchmarks that use the same definition you do.
How It Works
Speed Is a Revenue Problem, Not Just a Cash-Flow One
Every day a claim sits unpaid lowers the odds it gets paid at all: timely-filing limits close, patients become harder to reach, and appeals windows expire. That is why days in A/R and the share of A/R over 120 days are watched together — the first measures speed, the second measures how much is going stale.
The formula
Days in A/R = Total A/R ÷ (Gross charges for the period ÷ Days in the period)
Using 90 days of charges smooths out seasonal swings and holiday weeks better than a single month.
≤ 40 days
Healthy
Billing vendors commonly cite 30–40 days as the MGMA benchmark for most specialties, with high performers holding under 30. Claims are going out clean and follow-up is happening on time.
40–50 days
Drifting
Often one payer or one denial category slowing everything down. Break A/R aging out by payer: the problem is usually concentrated, which makes it fixable.
50+ days
Backlog
Claims are stalling without follow-up. Prioritise anything approaching a timely-filing limit, then work the oldest high-dollar balances first — these are the ones about to become write-offs.
Reading your A/R aging buckets
| Bucket | What it usually means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0–30 days | Normal processing — most clean claims pay here. | Monitor rejections daily so nothing sits in a clearinghouse queue. |
| 31–60 days | Slow payers and claims needing information. | Check claim status and respond to payer requests the same week. |
| 61–90 days | Denials and underpayments not yet worked. | Work denials by reason code; appeal while windows are open. |
| 91–120 days | At risk — appeal and filing deadlines approach. | Escalate to payer reps; prioritise by dollar value. |
| 120+ days | Collectability falls sharply. | Final appeals, patient collections, or a documented write-off decision. |
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good days in A/R for a medical practice?
Most billing and practice-management sources cite 30–40 days as the MGMA benchmark for physician practices, with strong performers under 30. Specialties with heavy prior authorization or complex claims run longer, so track your own trend as well as the benchmark.
Should I use gross charges or net revenue?
MGMA uses gross charges; many hospitals and HFMA-style metrics use net revenue, which produces a higher number for the same practice. Neither is wrong — just compare against benchmarks built the same way and stay consistent month to month.
Why did my days in A/R jump suddenly?
Common causes: a payer processing slowdown, a clearinghouse rejection batch nobody saw, a credentialing gap causing denials for one provider, or a drop in charges (which raises the ratio even if A/R is unchanged). Check A/R by payer and by provider first.
How much A/R over 120 days is too much?
Published figures vary widely by specialty and source — from single digits to over 20% in some family-medicine data. A useful internal rule: if more than about 15% of your A/R is over 120 days, a meaningful share of it is probably uncollectable and follow-up needs attention.
Does lowering days in A/R increase revenue?
Directly, it speeds cash. Indirectly, yes — claims worked earlier are more likely to be paid, because appeal windows and timely-filing limits are still open. Faster follow-up usually lifts net collection rate too.
Should patient balances be included?
Yes, for the total figure. But track payer A/R and patient A/R separately as well — they age for different reasons and are fixed in different ways (claim follow-up versus point-of-service collection and statements).
Sources
- [1]Forvis Mazars, “Know Your KPIs, Cash Flow and Claims Optimization” (Kansas MGMA, April 2026), citing MGMA DataDive
- [2]Revecore — Healthcare A/R benchmarks
This is an independent planning tool built by MedVersify from published methodology. It is not an official CMS, payer, or clinical tool, and results are estimates — confirm decisions against your own reports, payer contracts, and clinical judgment.
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Free A/R Review
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We’ll break your A/R down by payer and age, and show you which balances are still worth chasing.