Fixing the Gaps Between Care Delivered and Revenue Collected

This delay isn’t just inconvenient. It creates ongoing uncertainty around cash flow, staffing decisions, and growth planning. What makes it especially frustrating is that the work has already been done, patients were treated, services were documented, and claims were submitted. On paper, revenue exists. In practice, much of it sits unresolved somewhere between “sent” and “paid.”

Over time, this gap becomes normalized. Practices learn to live with growing accounts receivable (AR) balances, delayed reimbursements, and limited insight into what portion of their revenue is still moving. Many can sense that something is off, even if they can’t immediately point to where the breakdown is happening.

Where Revenue Slows Down

Most healthcare organizations invest significant effort in submitting clean claims. That part of the process is structured, measurable, and visible. What’s far less clear is everything that happens after submission.

Once a claim is sent, revenue can slow down for many reasons: enrollment gaps, credentialing mismatches, payer requests for additional information, denials that require review, or follow-ups that happen irregularly or lose momentum over time. Rarely is there a single failure point. Instead, small issues stack up, and claims begin to age without a clear explanation.

In many practices, revenue isn’t formally denied. It simply sits, waiting for follow-up, waiting for clarification, waiting for someone to notice it hasn’t moved.

When AR Numbers Stop Being Trustworthy

On reports, AR may appear healthy. In reality, confidence in those numbers is often low. Some claims are actively moving toward payment. Others are stalled due to unresolved issues. And many fall into a gray area where no one can say with certainty whether the money is still coming.

This uncertainty has real consequences. Leadership teams are forced to plan around numbers they don’t fully trust. Cash flow forecasting becomes guesswork. Billing teams stay busy, but results don’t always reflect the effort being put in.

For many physicians, these issues surface in indirect but very real ways. A doctor may hear that collections are “fine,” yet hesitate before hiring another provider. They may delay purchasing new equipment, not because demand isn’t there, but because cash flow feels uncertain. Revenue becomes something they’re aware of every day, without ever having clear answers about what’s actually happening behind the scenes.

The problem isn’t always the size of AR, it’s the lack of clarity around what portion of it is actually collectible.

Why Follow-Up Makes the Difference

Submitting a claim is only the starting point. What determines whether revenue is ultimately collected is what happens next.

A meaningful portion of healthcare revenue remains in AR not because it’s uncollectible, but because follow-up lacks consistency, urgency, or clear ownership. Without regular, disciplined outreach to payers, small issues remain unresolved. And the longer a claim sits, the harder it becomes to move.

“In a lot of practices, money stays in AR simply because no one is consistently following up,” says Nasar Haq, CEO of Medtransic. “Without that follow-through, revenue can remain stuck even when it’s technically collectible.”

It’s not uncommon for a physician to discover months later that a claim was delayed due to a credentialing issue or a missed payer response, long after the visit took place and when recovery is far more difficult.

Consistent AR follow-up, prioritizing aged claims, maintaining steady payer contact, and pushing issues to resolution rather than review, is what turns AR from a static report into an active process.

Bringing Structure to a Fragmented Process

Some healthcare organizations are beginning to look at billing differently, not as a checklist of disconnected tasks, but as a system that requires visibility and coordination across enrollment, submission, denials, and AR follow-up.

Medtransic works with practices to actively and persistently manage accounts receivable, using structured, ongoing follow-ups designed to keep claims moving rather than lingering. The focus is not on touching claims once or twice, but on maintaining momentum until issues are resolved or clearly closed.

“Revenue problems usually don’t come from one big mistake,” Haq explains. “They come from small gaps across the process that add up over time.”

The goal isn’t to promise perfect outcomes or control payer behavior. It’s to reduce blind spots, apply disciplined follow-through, and give practices a clearer view of which revenue is still moving, and which requires attention.

From Uncertainty to Clarity

Closing the gap between care delivered and revenue collected starts with recognizing where revenue slows down and why. For many practices, the turning point is shifting focus from submission alone to what happens afterward, how AR is followed up, how issues are resolved, and how confidently revenue can be tracked.

Over time, billing stops being a back-office function and becomes a background source of distraction, pulling attention away from patient care and toward unanswered financial questions.

When billing processes are structured and actively managed, AR becomes more than a number on a report. It becomes a more reliable indicator of expected cash flow and a stronger foundation for operational decisions.

For more information on Medtransic, visit medtransic.com

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