Financial operations
Practice financial health dashboard
Twelve metrics — reviewed monthly — tell you whether an independent practice is healthy. Anything else is decoration. This resource defines each metric, provides an MGMA/HFMA-anchored benchmark range, and gives a spreadsheet formula.
By Jordan Alderman, MBA, CMPE · Reviewed by Rania Hassan, JD, CHC · Last reviewed · Methodology
Disclosure: Independent editorial. No pay-for-placement, no affiliate rankings. Full editorial standards.
Who this is for: Practice managers, administrators, and physician-owners running the P&L.
Revenue metrics
- Net collections (monthly): dollars collected from all sources; target = ≥ 96% of expected reimbursement
- Days in A/R: (Total A/R ÷ average daily charges); target < 40 days
- % A/R > 90 days: aged bucket / total; target < 15%
- First-pass acceptance rate: clean claims paid on first submission; target > 95%
- Denial rate: denied claims / total submitted; target < 5%
Cost metrics
- Cost of collection: total billing/RCM cost / net collections; target 4%–8%
- Overhead ratio: total operating expense (excl provider comp) / total collections; target 55%–65% primary care, 40%–55% procedural specialties
- Provider compensation / collections: target 30%–45% depending on specialty
Operational metrics
- New patients per month: leading indicator of future revenue
- No-show rate: target < 8%
- Third-next-available appointment: target ≤ 5 business days
- Encounter per provider per day: benchmark to specialty MGMA data
Dashboard build
Any BI tool works: Google Sheets, Excel, Metabase, Tableau, Looker. The requirement is that the underlying feed comes from your PM/RCM system, refreshes at least weekly, and is reviewed monthly in a management meeting with a written action item on any metric out of band.
Related buyer guide
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