Accounts receivable days (AR days)
The average number of days it takes to collect payment after a service is billed. AR days tells you how fast your money moves from claim submission to your bank account. It is one of the most important cash flow metrics for any clinic.
Why this matters for your clinic
Every day a dollar sits in accounts receivable is a day you cannot use it to make payroll, invest in equipment, or pay yourself. High AR days means your cash flow is slower than it should be, even if your revenue looks healthy on paper.
AR days also signals operational problems. If AR days are climbing, something upstream is broken: eligibility verification, coding accuracy, claim follow-up, or payer contracting. The number itself tells you to dig deeper.
How to calculate
(Total AR / Average Daily Charges) = AR Days
What good looks like
HFMA MAP Keys set the industry target for net days in AR below 40. MGMA DataDive better-performing benchmarks land closer to 30–35 days for most outpatient specialties. Above 50 days means money is stuck in the pipeline and you are likely writing off claims that could still be collected.
From Sorso
Every clinic we've pulled into month-end close that had AR days above 50 had a direct, fixable cause — usually a single payer with stalled follow-up, not a systemic collections problem.
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Founder of Sorso and a CFA charterholder. Before Sorso, Stan spent 19 years in corporate finance at institutions including UniCredit and Société Générale — managing a $450M loan portfolio and making senior partner at a major mezzanine lender by 29 — then built a fractional CFO firm exclusively for outpatient healthcare clinics.
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