The Importance of DTRs by Richard Tamburello, Managing Director, URS Billing Services, LLC

Establishing `Delinquency Tolerance Ratio’s’ (DTR’s) is one key success factor by which to minimize the practice’s investment in A/R.  DTR’s should be set-up for all major insurance providers, including self-pay accounts. Implementing strict guidelines help to ensure that your practice not only minimizes its investment in A/R but produces optimal cash revenues on a consistent basis.

As a general rule, we use the following DTR ratio targets for managing our clients A/R. These ratios are to be used as target guidelines for insurance and self-pay balances: < 30 days = 75% - 80%, < 60 = 10%, < 91 = 5%, < 121= 5%, > 120 = 5%.
  
For example, the first and most important part of effectively managing and receiving payment is making sure ALL patient demographics, including insurance data, are correctly entered and verified prior to submitting claims. At URS, the staff is trained and tested, trained and tested when it comes to this essential `key’ phase of medical billing. Consider the negative financial consequences when carelessness replaces accuracy.

What financial ratios do you most often use in your day to day work life?