Forget claim lag — here's the metric ASCs should benchmark instead

ASC leaders should focus on improving charge lag rather than claim lag, according to Regent RCM.

Three insights:

1. Claim lag measures the time between the service date and when a claim is billed out. The advent of electronic claims processing made this action almost instantaneous, so it's not a critical metric to track.

2. Charge lag, on the other hand, measures the time between receiving coding from a coding company and entering those charges. This metric is a greater opportunity for improvement than claim lag.

3. Ideally, charges should be entered the day of service. If the lag is greater than 48 hours — which is the gold standard — it's important to look at variables that could be driving the increase, such as dictation turnaround or delays on the coding company's end.

More articles on coding, billing and collections:
Third-party vendor hack exposes nearly 12M Quest Diagnostics records — 5 takeaways
3 things to know about out-of-network payments' effect on ASC value
The changing bundled payment landscape for ASCs — What to know about risk, payers & future trends

© Copyright ASC COMMUNICATIONS 2020. Interested in LINKING to or REPRINTING this content? View our policies by clicking here.