Days in Accounts Receivable
Average number of days from claim submission to payment, calculated as (total A/R) ÷ (average daily charges).
1 min read · Last reviewed May 23, 2026
At a glance
- Category
- Billing
- Primary sources
- 1
- Workspace handoff
- revenue audit →
Where this comes up
This shows up in revenue-cycle work — claim scrubbing, charge entry, posting, A/R follow-up, and month-end close. Billers and practice managers hit this term when reconciling a payment, working a denial queue, or auditing why a claim aged past 60 days.
Full definition
What it is in practice
MGMA benchmarks vary by specialty but generally 30-45 days is the target. Over 60 days signals a process problem (front-end errors, slow follow-up, or aged write-offs).
How it shows up in your practice
Track days in A/R monthly. Decompose by payer to find specific slow-payers.
Sources
- CMS — Physician Fee Schedulehttps://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/fee-schedules/physician
Track days in A/R in Revenue Audit
Open revenue audit →Related terms
- BillingRevenue Cycle Management (RCM)The end-to-end administrative function tracking patient care episodes from registration through final payment.
- Denials & AppealsDenial ManagementThe end-to-end workflow of identifying, categorizing, appealing, and preventing claim denials.
- BillingClean Claim RatePercentage of claims accepted by the payer on first submission without edits or rejections.
D3rx is a healthcare-billing and compliance research aid maintained by D3rx Inc. Articles are drafted by an LLM (Anthropic Claude) against primary HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and state-regulator publications, and reviewed for restraint and source fidelity by the D3rx team.
Reviewer status: a named credentialed reviewer (CHC, CHPC, or healthcare attorney) is being engaged. Until that engagement is finalized, this page does not claim credentialed review.
Related across the archive
- GlossaryClean Claim RatePercentage of claims accepted by the payer on first submission without edits or rejections.
- GlossaryRevenue Cycle Management (RCM)The end-to-end administrative function tracking patient care episodes from registration through final payment.
- GlossaryDenial ManagementThe end-to-end workflow of identifying, categorizing, appealing, and preventing claim denials.
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- GlossaryCharge CaptureThe process of identifying and recording every billable service furnished during a patient encounter.
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- BillingAWV + Problem Visit Same Day: How to Bill CorrectlyYes, you can bill AWV and a problem visit the same day. Here's how to do it correctly with modifier -25.
This glossary entry is a research aid for billing and compliance staff. It does not provide legal, medical, or financial advice and does not replace counsel. References cited link to primary sources at HHS, OCR, CMS, eCFR, NIST, and the relevant payer or industry body.