Performance Analysis of Medical Billing Services

Billing performance measurement is an integral part of medical practice billing process and a prerequisite to effective practice management. Systematic measurement becomes mission-critical with growth of billing complexity or outsourcing of the billing function. Traditional billing metrics are limited in scope and focus on claim submission process, ignoring process imperfections on the insurance (payer) side. Modern computer technologies allow both productive measurement and effective action by the disciplined billing office to improve claim submission and payment processes.

Medical billing metrics typically include compliance, cash balances, charges, accounts receivable, and collection ratios to help monitor cash flow. This article defines performance metrics and provides some benchmarks. For discussion of compliance program, see companion article on Medical Billing Compliance.