Providers have a variety of strategies to choose from when planning how to improve practice revenue. However, practices that manage patient payments in-house have limited bandwidth to devote to these revenue-boosting initiatives. Leadership and billing teams might have a hunch about what’s awry, but at the end of the day, it’s the data and hard numbers that tell the story.
Unfortunately, many practices overlook the financial KPIs that matter the most. These oversights lead to revenue leakage, higher operational costs, and lost revenue. For Part 3 of our Patient Pay Revenue Rescue series, we’re covering the most important KPIs to track when evaluating the health of your practice’s patient payment services and how to benchmark your revenue recovery efforts.
KPIs to Inform Your Healthcare Collections Strategy
- Self-pay collection rate. This KPI measures the percentage of self-pay patient balances successfully collected. It does not include the balances that fall under the responsibility of insurance companies or other third-party payers.
- Industry average: Industry data shows that the collection rate for providers from commercially insured patients is around 34%.1 On average, PatientFocus’s clients experience a 40% increase in patient pay revenue after implementing PatientFocus solutions.
- Percentage of accounts sent to collections. Due to rising deductibles, copays, and gaps in coverage, patients are increasingly saddled with a large portion of healthcare expenses. As a result, many patients with unpaid bills face collection actions.
- Industry average: While the average percentage of accounts sent to collections isn’t tracked or reported, practices should leverage strategies to reduce the number of bills they send to collections as much as possible. PatientFocus’s solutions – rooted in improving the patient financial experience – can help reduce the number of accounts sent to collections. Providers looking to reduce this percentage might consider digital engagement strategies or adopting our propensity to pay model, which uses advanced analytics to boost patient satisfaction and financial outcomes.
- Average days to collect after service. This metric represents the average number of days it takes for your practice to collect payments from patients after delivering healthcare services.
- Industry average: This number typically ranges from 45-52 days. By partnering with PatientFocus, practices experience a 28% decrease in A/R days on average. Furthermore, providers using our Full Service Suite with built-in digital notification technology see an average collection time of just eight days.
- NPS score. Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures how likely a patient is to recommend a practice to others. Although these scores are not purely financial, patient billing practices influence these scores and impact revenue collection.
- Industry average: The average NPS in the healthcare industry falls within the range of 30 to 50.3 It’s measured by subtracting the percentage of “detractors” (patients who score 0-6 on a 10-point likelihood-to-recommend scale) from the percentage of “promoters” (patients who score 9-10).2 The higher the score, the better. Central to PatientFocus’s approach to patient payments, this metric places the patient at the heart of financial interactions to promote greater satisfaction.
- Cost to collect. This KPI measures the cost incurred to collect each dollar of revenue. Calculate this number by dividing the total revenue cost by the total cash collected. The lower the number, the more efficient your RCM process.4
- Industry average: The average cost to collect in the healthcare industry is 2% to 4% of net patient revenue. By leveraging the expertise of PatientFocus’s seasoned account representatives, practices can enhance efficiency in patient payment collections and reduce the cost to collect.
Practices that don’t periodically assess these KPIs as part of ongoing revenue cycle management efforts risk overlooking clear guideposts for keeping revenue on track. Neglecting to track these metrics also misses opportunities to identify well-informed, analytically backed strategies for redirecting the ship. At PatientFocus, we work closely with clients to pinpoint the most meaningful KPIs, establish effective tracking methods, and implement patient engagement strategies that steer the organization toward lasting financial health.
Want to take the first step toward understanding your KPIs and charting your course to a new, healthier era of patient pay? Schedule a consultation today.
Sources
- Business Wire. (2025, February 27). Healthcare providers facing stiff headwinds on revenue cycle performance, Kodiak Solutions data show. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250227049715/en/Healthcare-Providers-Facing-Stiff-Headwinds-on-Revenue-Cycle-Performance-Kodiak-Solutions-Data-Show
- Ratekin, M. (2024, October 9). Unlocking the power of NPS in healthcare. Pressganey.com. https://info.pressganey.com/press-ganey-blog-healthcare-experience-insights/unlocking-the-power-of-nps-in-healthcare
- Healthcare Net Promoter Score: Meaning, Calculation and Benchmark | SurveySparrow. (2024). SurveySparrow. https://surveysparrow.com/blog/net-promoter-score-healthcare/
- How Revenue Cycle KPI’s Improve Practice Performance. (2023). Glenwoodsystems.com. https://www.glenwoodsystems.com/post/how-revenue-cycle-kpis-improve-practice-performance