Improving ASC KPIs: Days to bill and days to pay
Written by Angela Mattioda, Vice President of Revenue Cycle Management Services, Surgical Notes
When ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) allocate the time to monitor and benchmark key performance indicators (KPIs), they gain better control over their revenue cycle performance. This helps with identifying problems that drag down revenue and profits and then implementing solutions to resolve such issues.
This first article, in what will be an ongoing series about improving ASC KPIs, focuses on two related metrics: days to bill and days to pay.
Why you should monitor these KPIs
Monitoring the average days to bill — also referred to as charge lag — every month will help ensure cases are billed promptly, which should then lead to faster, timely payments. Higher or inconsistent days to bill make it more difficult to accurately estimate revenue. Furthermore, lengthy delays can contribute to increases in denials, lost payments, and days sales outstanding.
Days to pay measures how long it takes for your ASC to receive primary insurance payments. As with days to bill, payment delays can negatively impact your bottom line. When monitoring and trending this metric, do so by payer or financial class.
