Your EHR system contains the data you need to catch revenue leaks before they become financial problems. But most healthcare organizations only pull reports sporadically, review them reactively, and miss the patterns that signal where revenue is slipping through the cracks.
Monthly reporting rhythms create accountability, reveal trends, and give leadership the visibility needed to make informed decisions. Let’s dive into some of the monthly reports great RCM teams should be running regularly, and why that data matters!
Why Monthly Matters
According to MGMA data, charge capture failures cost the average multi-provider practice between 1% and 5% of potential revenue. For a practice generating $3 million annually, that’s $30,000 to $150,000 in services rendered but never billed.
These failures accumulate gradually, and without regular reporting, small gaps compound into significant revenue loss before anyone notices. Monthly reviews help you create a baseline for your organization – after all, you can’t spot trends if you’re only looking at data occasionally.
Quick disclaimer: We won’t be listing all the specific reports for all the popular EHRs – software is constantly updating, and different specialties prefer different systems. Instead, we will describe the reports, the data they contain, and offer some of the most commonly used report names. Once you know what kind of data you’re looking for, finding (or building) that report in your own system becomes possible! Looking for custom reporting? Check out our billing department assessment services.
The Core Reports Every Organization Needs
Charge Reconciliation Report
This report compares your schedule or appointment log to charges posted. Ideally, charges should be reconciled daily, or at least weekly, but a monthly review of your reconciliation patterns is an absolute must. Look for departments or providers who consistently show gaps between appointments and posted charges.
Most EHR systems can generate this by comparing scheduling data to billing data. Look for report names like “charge capture review,” “encounter reconciliation,” or “schedule vs. charges.”
Aging Accounts Receivable Report
This shows how long claims have been waiting for payment, broken down by time periods. Anything between a 30 and 45 day average in AR means claims are moving. More than 90 days is a red flag.
Pull this monthly and look at trends. Is your 90+ day bucket growing? Are specific payers consistently in older buckets? Breaking down AR aging by payer, provider, or service type helps you understand where your team is struggling the most and allows you to focus follow-up efforts where they’ll have the biggest impact.
Denial Report by Reason
This categorizes claim denials by payer-provided reason: missing information, authorization required, timely filing, coding errors, eligibility issues.
The value in this report is pattern recognition. Repeated denials for “missing prior authorization” signal a workflow problem. “Coding errors” for a particular CPT code indicate a training need. Review these reasons monthly and focus on your top three denial reasons by volume or dollar amount. Armed with this knowledge, your training will be laser-focused on the issues that are impacting your revenue right now.
Clean Claim Rate Report
Industry benchmark for this stat is above 96% which means 96% or more of your claims should be paid on first submission without edits or appeals.
If you notice a declining clean claim rate, it could indicate one or more upstream problems: registration data accuracy, coding quality, or charge entry completeness. If your rate drops below benchmark (or is not quite at the national benchmark yet), remember this statistic doesn’t live in a vacuum! Pull your denial report to identify what’s causing rejections. When you start examining how your reports work together, you begin to paint a full picture of your revenue cycle management.
Days Not Final Coded (DNFC) and Days Not Final Billed (DNFB) Report
Ideally, coding should happen withing a few days of service and billing should follow immediately. The DNFC and DNFB reports show you which accounts are sitting in limbo – services have been provided but coding has not been finalized, or coding is done but billing is stalled.
High DNFC indicates coding backlogs and high DNFB points to billing bottlenecks. Reviewing these reports monthly helps you keep your revenue cycle moving.
How to Use These Reports Effectively
Set Baselines First
If you have never pulled a report before, your first few months establish your baseline. Don’t expect perfection right away – your goal is understanding where you are today so you can measure whether your future changes are working.
Focus on Trends
One month of elevated denials might be a fluke. Three consecutive months is a trend demanding attention. Monthly reporting reveals patterns invisible in quarterly reviews.
Assign Ownership and Close the Loop
Someone needs to own each report. Charge reconciliation might belong to your billing manager. AR aging to your collections lead. Giving each report and its follow up some clear ownership builds in accountability which means your reports regularly get reviewed and improvements get implemented.
When you’re reviewing your data, make sure to share findings with teams who can fix them. If denial reports show eligibility issues, that’s a registration training need not a provider training issue. Monthly cross-functional check-ins keep everyone aligned, and communication channels opened.
When to Bring in Outside Support
Many healthcare organizations find that building consistent reporting rhythms and knowing what to do with the data is a consistent struggle. It’s not that the reports don’t exist; it’s that internal teams either don’t have time to analyze them thoughtfully or don’t have the expertise to interpret what story the numbers are telling.
This is where outsourcing revenue cycle management services can provide value that goes beyond just processing claims. When you work with an expert RCM team, they’re pulling these reports regularly, spotting patterns across your organization, and bringing their insights about what’s normal versus what indicates a problem worth investigating directly to your leadership.
An experienced RCM company can help you understand which metrics to prioritize for your specific payer mix, specialty, and patient population. They can benchmark your performance against similar organizations and identify opportunities you might not see when you’re focused on daily operations. If that sounds like something your organization needs (even if it’s just for one of your programs or services) we’d love to connect!
Building the Habit
Start simple. Pick three reports from this list and commit to reviewing them on the same day each month. First Monday of the month, last Friday, whatever works for your schedule – as long as it is consistent.
Block 30 minutes on your calendar, pull the reports, note any significant changes from last month, and identify one action item to address. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Focus on the highest-impact opportunity each month and start there.
As the rhythm becomes routine, you can expand to additional reports or deeper analysis. Your goal with great reporting is to build visibility. When you know where your revenue leaks are, you can plug them. By monitoring trends consistently, your team can address small problems before they become big financial losses.
Your EHR might already have most of these reports built in, and learning how to run them and read them regularly arms you with the knowledge you need to protect your revenue. Monthly reporting turns your data into actionable intelligence that keeps your revenue cycle healthy and your organization financially stable.
Title
As we near the end of the year, many of the healthcare organizations we work with are beginning to look forward and plan for 2024. Part of this planning is updating, or even creating, a strategic plan. Strategic planning can be defined as “a process used by organizations to identify their goals, the str
Continue Readiing
Title
As we near the end of the year, many of the healthcare organizations we work with are beginning to look forward and plan for 2024. Part of this planning is updating, or even creating, a strategic plan. Strategic planning can be defined as “a process used by organizations to identify their goals, the str
Continue Readiing
Your EHR system contains the data you need to catch revenue leaks before they become financial problems. But most healthcare organizations only pull reports sporadically, review them reactively, and miss the patterns that signal where revenue is slipping through the cracks.
Monthly reporting rhythms create accountability, reveal trends, and give leadership the visibility needed to make informed decisions. Let’s dive into some of the monthly reports great RCM teams should be running regularly, and why that data matters!
Why Monthly Matters
According to MGMA data, charge capture failures cost the average multi-provider practice between 1% and 5% of potential revenue. For a practice generating $3 million annually, that’s $30,000 to $150,000 in services rendered but never billed.
These failures accumulate gradually, and without regular reporting, small gaps compound into significant revenue loss before anyone notices. Monthly reviews help you create a baseline for your organization – after all, you can’t spot trends if you’re only looking at data occasionally.
Quick disclaimer: We won’t be listing all the specific reports for all the popular EHRs – software is constantly updating, and different specialties prefer different systems. Instead, we will describe the reports, the data they contain, and offer some of the most commonly used report names. Once you know what kind of data you’re looking for, finding (or building) that report in your own system becomes possible! Looking for custom reporting? Check out our billing department assessment services.
The Core Reports Every Organization Needs
Charge Reconciliation Report
This report compares your schedule or appointment log to charges posted. Ideally, charges should be reconciled daily, or at least weekly, but a monthly review of your reconciliation patterns is an absolute must. Look for departments or providers who consistently show gaps between appointments and posted charges.
Most EHR systems can generate this by comparing scheduling data to billing data. Look for report names like “charge capture review,” “encounter reconciliation,” or “schedule vs. charges.”
Aging Accounts Receivable Report
This shows how long claims have been waiting for payment, broken down by time periods. Anything between a 30 and 45 day average in AR means claims are moving. More than 90 days is a red flag.
Pull this monthly and look at trends. Is your 90+ day bucket growing? Are specific payers consistently in older buckets? Breaking down AR aging by payer, provider, or service type helps you understand where your team is struggling the most and allows you to focus follow-up efforts where they’ll have the biggest impact.
Denial Report by Reason
This categorizes claim denials by payer-provided reason: missing information, authorization required, timely filing, coding errors, eligibility issues.
The value in this report is pattern recognition. Repeated denials for “missing prior authorization” signal a workflow problem. “Coding errors” for a particular CPT code indicate a training need. Review these reasons monthly and focus on your top three denial reasons by volume or dollar amount. Armed with this knowledge, your training will be laser-focused on the issues that are impacting your revenue right now.
Clean Claim Rate Report
Industry benchmark for this stat is above 96% which means 96% or more of your claims should be paid on first submission without edits or appeals.
If you notice a declining clean claim rate, it could indicate one or more upstream problems: registration data accuracy, coding quality, or charge entry completeness. If your rate drops below benchmark (or is not quite at the national benchmark yet), remember this statistic doesn’t live in a vacuum! Pull your denial report to identify what’s causing rejections. When you start examining how your reports work together, you begin to paint a full picture of your revenue cycle management.
Days Not Final Coded (DNFC) and Days Not Final Billed (DNFB) Report
Ideally, coding should happen withing a few days of service and billing should follow immediately. The DNFC and DNFB reports show you which accounts are sitting in limbo – services have been provided but coding has not been finalized, or coding is done but billing is stalled.
High DNFC indicates coding backlogs and high DNFB points to billing bottlenecks. Reviewing these reports monthly helps you keep your revenue cycle moving.
How to Use These Reports Effectively
Set Baselines First
If you have never pulled a report before, your first few months establish your baseline. Don’t expect perfection right away – your goal is understanding where you are today so you can measure whether your future changes are working.
Focus on Trends
One month of elevated denials might be a fluke. Three consecutive months is a trend demanding attention. Monthly reporting reveals patterns invisible in quarterly reviews.
Assign Ownership and Close the Loop
Someone needs to own each report. Charge reconciliation might belong to your billing manager. AR aging to your collections lead. Giving each report and its follow up some clear ownership builds in accountability which means your reports regularly get reviewed and improvements get implemented.
When you’re reviewing your data, make sure to share findings with teams who can fix them. If denial reports show eligibility issues, that’s a registration training need not a provider training issue. Monthly cross-functional check-ins keep everyone aligned, and communication channels opened.
When to Bring in Outside Support
Many healthcare organizations find that building consistent reporting rhythms and knowing what to do with the data is a consistent struggle. It’s not that the reports don’t exist; it’s that internal teams either don’t have time to analyze them thoughtfully or don’t have the expertise to interpret what story the numbers are telling.
This is where outsourcing revenue cycle management services can provide value that goes beyond just processing claims. When you work with an expert RCM team, they’re pulling these reports regularly, spotting patterns across your organization, and bringing their insights about what’s normal versus what indicates a problem worth investigating directly to your leadership.
An experienced RCM company can help you understand which metrics to prioritize for your specific payer mix, specialty, and patient population. They can benchmark your performance against similar organizations and identify opportunities you might not see when you’re focused on daily operations. If that sounds like something your organization needs (even if it’s just for one of your programs or services) we’d love to connect!
Building the Habit
Start simple. Pick three reports from this list and commit to reviewing them on the same day each month. First Monday of the month, last Friday, whatever works for your schedule – as long as it is consistent.
Block 30 minutes on your calendar, pull the reports, note any significant changes from last month, and identify one action item to address. Don’t try to fix everything at once. Focus on the highest-impact opportunity each month and start there.
As the rhythm becomes routine, you can expand to additional reports or deeper analysis. Your goal with great reporting is to build visibility. When you know where your revenue leaks are, you can plug them. By monitoring trends consistently, your team can address small problems before they become big financial losses.
Your EHR might already have most of these reports built in, and learning how to run them and read them regularly arms you with the knowledge you need to protect your revenue. Monthly reporting turns your data into actionable intelligence that keeps your revenue cycle healthy and your organization financially stable.
Title
As we near the end of the year, many of the healthcare organizations we work with are beginning to look forward and plan for 2024. Part of this planning is updating, or even creating, a strategic plan. Strategic planning can be defined as “a process used by organizations to identify their goals, the str
Continue Readiing
Title
As we near the end of the year, many of the healthcare organizations we work with are beginning to look forward and plan for 2024. Part of this planning is updating, or even creating, a strategic plan. Strategic planning can be defined as “a process used by organizations to identify their goals, the str
Continue Readiing
As healthcare organizations enter the new year, many leaders are asking the same question: Are we set up to move forward with confidence, or are we still spending too much time reacting? Between staffing constraints, evolving payer requirements, and continued financial pressure, revenue cycle readiness is less about perfection and more about clarity.
Whether you lead an FQHC, CHC, specialty practice, or a mission-driven nonprofit, the revenue cycle plays a critical role in sustaining care delivery. Taking time now for a thoughtful, high-level self-assessment can help identify where your organization is well-positioned and where added focus may make the biggest difference in the year ahead.
Think of this list as a strategic pause – an opportunity to step back and evaluate whether your revenue cycle is supporting your goals or quietly creating friction. Let’s dive in!
What Revenue Cycle Readiness Really Means Going Into 2026
Traditionally, revenue cycle performance has been measured by metrics alone: days in AR, denial rates, or net collection percentages. While those indicators still matter, readiness today is broader.
A “ready” revenue cycle is one that:
- Can adapt to staffing changes without major disruption
- Provides leadership with confidence that the data they rely on is accurate and meaningful
- Supports sustainable growth without burning out internal teams
- Aligns financial operations with organizational mission, both for nonprofit and for-profit healthcare teams
Readiness is not about having everything optimized at once. Instead, it’s about knowing where you stand and having a plan to address the areas that matter most.
A Practical Self-Assessment for Healthcare Leaders
Below are key areas many we have helped organizations review as they prepare to tackle a new year. These questions are intentionally high-level and designed to help leadership teams engage in strategic reflection rather than just tackling troubleshooting.
Staffing and Team Capacity
Revenue cycle teams remain stretched across the healthcare industry, making capacity a critical consideration. A lack of breathing room often shows up downstream in delays, rework, and missed opportunities.
Questions for your team:
- Do you feel confident your current staffing model can support your expected patient volume in 2026?
- Are key processes dependent on one or two individuals?
- When challenges arise, is your team able to respond proactively, or is it mostly in reaction mode?
Front-End Stability
Strong revenue cycles start before a claim is ever submitted. Small breakdowns at the front end tend to create outsized impacts later in the cycle.
Questions for your team:
- Are front-end processes consistent across locations or departments?
- Do billing and registration teams share visibility into recurring issues?
- When payer requirements change, is there a clear path for updates to be communicated and applied?
Denials and Rework Trends
Denials are inevitable, but your denial patterns tell an important story. Without clear insight, teams often spend valuable time fixing the same issues repeatedly.
Questions for your team:
- Are you able to identify trends rather than just individual denials?
- Do you understand why rework is happening, not just where?
- Is denial data used as a learning tool or simply a reporting requirement?
Accounts Receivable Health
AR is often a reflection of operational alignment. Healthy AR supports cash flow and reduces stress across the organization.
Questions for your team:
- Do you have a clear sense of what is driving your current AR balance?
- Are backlogs growing, shrinking, or staying the same?
- How often is AR reviewed from a strategic perspective, not just a transactional one?
Credentialing and Enrollment Confidence
Enrollment delays can quietly erode revenue. Confidence in this area reduces surprises and supports smoother growth.
Questions for your team:
- Do new providers become fully billable within a predictable timeframe?
- Are re-credentialing deadlines easy to track and manage?
- Can leadership quickly assess the revenue impact of enrollment issues?
Reporting and Leadership Visibility
Good decisions rely on trusted information. If your data and regular reports raise more questions than answers, it may be time to reassess reporting processes.
Questions for your team:
- Do leaders feel confident in the reports they review?
- Are reports timely and easy to interpret?
- When numbers change, is there clarity around the “why” behind them?
What Your Answers Reveal and How to Prioritize Next Steps
As you reflect on these questions with your leadership team, you should see patterns emerging. For example, staffing strain combined with growing AR may point to process gaps rather than a lack of staff effort. Front-end challenges paired with denial trends may signal a need for better cross-team communication.
The goal is not to tackle everything at once. Instead:
- Identify one or two areas creating the most friction
- Focus on issues that consistently resurface
- Prioritize changes that relieve pressure on your internal team
For many organizations, this is where targeted support can help. A billing department assessment or coding audit, for example, can provide an objective view of what’s working, what isn’t, and where adjustments could have the greatest impact for your team without requiring a full overhaul.
A focused review with outside experts that know your state and specialty can give you clarity you can act on quickly.
Readiness Is About Support, Not Perfection
Preparing your revenue cycle for the coming year doesn’t require flawless operations. It requires awareness, prioritization, and the right level of support. By taking time now to assess readiness at a strategic level, healthcare leaders can move into the new year with greater confidence and fewer surprises.
If this self-assessment raises questions or confirms areas you’ve been meaning to revisit, it may be worth starting a deeper conversation. Practice Management works alongside healthcare organizations as a collaborative teammate, and our services are designed to help teams strengthen their revenue cycle in ways that fit their unique needs.
Sometimes, a fresh perspective is all it takes to turn uncertainty into a clear path forward!
