2026 RCM Benchmark Report

How does your revenue cycle compare to top-performing practices? This report covers every key metric — by specialty — so you know exactly where you stand.

  • Days in AR benchmarks by specialty
  • Clean claim rate targets for 2026
  • Denial rate averages by payer type
  • Cost-to-collect: in-house vs. outsourced
  • Net collection rate targets by payer mix
  • Prior auth denial trends for 2025–2026

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What's Inside the 2026 RCM Benchmark Report

Days in AR by Specialty

Industry average vs. top-quartile benchmarks for primary care, behavioral health, pain management, DME, dental, and orthopedics. Know the number you should be hitting.

Clean Claim Rate Targets

What first-pass acceptance rates look like across specialties and payer types in 2026 — including Medicare Advantage vs. commercial vs. Medicaid benchmarks.

Denial Rate Benchmarks

Average denial rates by payer category, the top 5 denial reason codes driving 80% of denials, and what the top 10% of practices achieve on denial prevention.

Cost-to-Collect Analysis

True cost-to-collect comparison: in-house billing (including staff, benefits, technology, turnover) vs. outsourced billing by practice size. With sample calculations.

Net Collection Rate Standards

What a best-practice net collection rate looks like by specialty and payer mix — and how much revenue the average practice is leaving uncollected.

Prior Auth Trends 2025–2026

How prior auth volumes changed in 2025, which specialties saw the biggest increase, and denial rates for auth-required services by top national payers.

A Snapshot from the Report

Metric Industry Avg Top Quartile Top 10%
Days in AR 42 days 28 days 18 days
Clean Claim Rate 87% 94% 97%+
Denial Rate 11.6% 6.2% < 4%
Net Collection Rate 91% 95% 97–98%
Cost to Collect 9.4% 5.8% 3–4%

Full specialty breakdowns and payer-level data are included in the complete report.

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