{"id":2477,"date":"2026-10-26T11:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedium.net\/blog\/?p=2477"},"modified":"2026-10-26T11:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T11:59:08","slug":"days-in-a-r-what-it-means-and-how-to-reduce-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedium.net\/blog\/days-in-a-r-what-it-means-and-how-to-reduce-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Days in A\/R: What It Means and How to Reduce It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Payroll lands on schedule whether or not your claims have been paid. That is the uncomfortable truth behind Days in A\/R for most practice administrators: the care was delivered, the visit was documented, and the money is still sitting in a payer’s queue or a patient’s mailbox while rent, salaries, and supply bills come due.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are in good company. In a July 2026 poll, MGMA found that 32% of medical group leaders<\/a> said their Days in A\/R went up over the past year, while only 22% saw it fall. This guide explains what Days in A\/R means, how to calculate it, what a healthy number looks like, and the practical steps that bring it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Days in A\/R Means for Your Practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Days in A\/R is the average number of days it takes your practice to get paid after a service is provided. It takes your total outstanding receivables and divides them by your average daily charges<\/a>, which tells you how many days of billing are still waiting to be collected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of it as a speedometer for your cash flow. A lower number means claims turn into usable money quickly. A higher number means cash is stuck in the pipeline, and every extra day is money you cannot spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Calculate Days in A\/R<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The math is simple, and the American Academy of Family Physicians<\/a> outlines the same two steps most practices use. First, work out your average daily charges by dividing total charges for a set period by the number of days in that period. Second, divide your total receivables by that figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a simple example. Say your practice billed $1,095,000 over the last 365 days, which is $3,000 per day. If you currently have $105,000 in total A\/R, your Days in A\/R is 35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two habits keep the number honest. HFMA notes<\/a> that internal teams can use a rolling three month average of daily revenue so seasonal swings do not distort the result. The AAFP also suggests calculating Days in A\/R with and without collection agency revenue, since those recoveries can make a slow cycle look better than it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is a Good Days in A\/R Benchmark?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A common rule of thumb, described by Rivet Health<\/a>, is to keep Days in A\/R under 50, with 30 to 40 days being the more desirable range. Your own target depends on your specialty, your payer mix, and how much of your revenue comes from patient balances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total alone can mislead. In the MGMA poll, one practice kept insurance A\/R within 28 days, but self-pay balances pushed its overall Days in A\/R to 32. That is why many teams also track the share of A\/R older than 120 days and break Days in A\/R out by payer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Days in A\/R Creeps Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Delays come from two directions. On the payer side, MGMA respondents<\/a> named slow payment, delayed claim submission, inconsistent insurance follow-upinitial denials, downcoding, medical record requests, and prepayment audits. On the practice side, they pointed to billing staff turnover, credentialing delays for new providers, and disruptions when a billing company, EHR, or practice management system changed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Denials deserve special attention. In an earlier MGMA poll<\/a>, 48% of leaders named denials and appeals as their biggest source of revenue leakage, and every denied claim restarts the collection clock. Fixing denials after the fact is also getting harder. Healthcare Finance News reported<\/a> that Kodiak Solutions found providers recovered fewer dollars from appeals in the first half of 2026 than a year earlier, which makes prevention the better investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Reduce Days in A\/R<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One MGMA respondent reported that an RCM overhaul brought Days in A\/R from 67 down to under 34. These steps, drawn from the same MGMA analysis<\/a>, are a good place to start:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Get the front desk right.<\/strong> Verify eligibility and registration details at check-in and give patients a clear estimate. Small errors here become denials weeks later.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Collect at the time of service.<\/strong> In 2024, practices collected about 72% of copayments at the visit but only about 27% of other patient balances. Whatever is left behind turns into statements, phone calls, and older A\/R.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Submit claims quickly.<\/strong> MGMA suggests clinicians close encounters within 72 hours and staff post charges within two days, reduce the time between service and claim submission compared with the three-to-seven-day lag seen across the sector.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Clean claims before they leave.<\/strong> MGMA benchmarking puts first-submission denials at 7% to 8%, and practices can push that below 5% with targeted process fixes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Work denials every day.<\/strong> Begin with high-dollar claims and the closest appeal deadlines. Next, review your five most common denial codes to identify preventable causes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Review aging by payer.<\/strong> Slow payers are easier to challenge. You can show how much A\/R they hold and how long you have been waiting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Technology can make these habits easier to repeat. At expEDIum, we work with practices and billing companies on daily follow-through. Some practices handle billing in house and others outsource it. The right choice depends on your staffing and claim volume, and expEDIum can walk through either path with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Final Thoughts on Days in A\/R<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Days in A\/R is more than a billing number. It reflects how well your front desk, clinicians, billers, and payers work together. With 43% of practices holding steady and nearly one third slipping, according to MGMA, even standing still takes effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whether you manage billing in house or with a partner like expEDIum, the starting point is the same. Calculate Days in A\/R by payer. Pick one or two fixes from the list above. Measure again in 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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