10 KPIs That Power Practice Growth and Patient Satisfaction

Key performance indicators to track at your medical practice and why

Your front desk, clinical staff, and billing office each have distinct responsibilities, but when they work in isolation, opportunities for improvement can slip by. If you align your staff with key metrics, you can identify service gaps, drive accountability, and improve overall performance.

Here’s a list of 10 key performance indicators (KPIs) across these three areas that you can use to help your practice run more efficiently and deliver a smoother patient experience.

Front desk KPIs

One goal for your front desk should be to reduce friction for patients. Track these three metrics to refine your scheduling and waiting room procedures and make a positive first impression.

1. No-show rate

What it is and why it matters: High no-show rates can result in lost practice revenue and reduced physician access for patients.

How to take action: To calculate your no-show rate, divide the number of no-shows by the total number of weekly appointments. Track weekly and set up automated appointment reminders to help reduce cancellations.

2. Time to new patient appointment

What it is and why it matters: One study found the average wait time for a new patient appointment is 31 days. Longer wait times for initial appointments can lead to patient dissatisfaction and poorer health outcomes because of delayed diagnosis and treatment.

How to take action: Divide the sum of new patient wait times by the total number of new patients to get your practice’s average. Track daily or weekly. Examine and adjust scheduling protocols and consider implementing automated waitlist technology to reduce wait times.

3. Time in waiting room

What it is and why it matters: Studies show patients are willing to wait about 20 minutes in the waiting room before frustration sets in.

How to take action: Track your wait times daily or weekly. Also consider adopting tools that allow you to track wait times throughout the office, filtering by room, provider, attendee, and days of the week to help you pinpoint roadblocks in patient flow. Retraining staff on your check-in process or adopting self-service check-in technology can also help reduce total waiting room time by streamlining the patient intake process.

Clinical staff KPIs

Your clinical staff are expected to deliver care that’s both efficient and effective. Following these metrics can help you identify and address process bottlenecks that have been shown to lead to staff burnout.

4. Total patient visits

What it is and why it matters: When viewed by provider, the total number of patient visits reveals utilization patterns and schedule distribution trends.

How to take action: Add up all patient encounters. Track this metric monthly by provider. Adjust scheduling as necessary to prevent staff frustration and increase efficiency.

5. New-to-total patient ratio

What it is and why it matters: This number can be used to measure practice growth and patient retention over time.

How to take action: Calculate this ratio by dividing the number of new patients by the total number of patients. Track monthly. Adjust marketing efforts or patient follow-up frequency as needed.

6. Variable expenses per patient

What it is and why it matters: This is your break-even point. If an insurance carrier reimburses a CPT code below your variable expenses per patient, the practice may be losing money on it.

How to take action: To calculate variable expenses per patient, divide your total variable expenses by your total number of patients. Track monthly to uncover and analyze profitability patterns over time.

7. Time to finalize visit notes

What it is and why it matters: Providers who take longer to finalize notes may experience burnout, and their patients’ care may be delayed because lab orders and referrals can’t be processed until the visit note is finalized.

How to take action: Track total time from visit completion to note closure daily or weekly, depending on the size of your practice. Have open conversations with providers whose documentation times are longer. You could offer extra training on your current EHR or consider looking at newer documentation software to help all your providers decrease their finalization times.

Billing office KPIs

Your billing staff should strive to collect timely, regular payments from both industry payers and patients. Use these data points to help smooth out your collection process.

8. Clean claims rate

What it is and why it matters: A high clean claims rate can show that your billing team is operating in a smooth and efficient manner, and can be used as an indicator of revenue cycle health.

How to take action: Divide the number of claims paid on first submission over the total number of claims submitted and multiply by 100. Track monthly. A rate lower than 95% indicates the need to improve claim scrubbing — the process of checking for billing errors before submission.

9. Denial rate

What it is and why it matters: High denial rates risk potential lost revenue and may signal inefficiencies in your billing process.

How to take action: Divide the number of denied claims by the total number of claims submitted and multiply by 100. Track monthly. If your rates are higher than 5%, offer retraining on payer-specific requirements and enhance your claims scrubbing process. Consider taking advantage of AI-powered tools to help prevent and reduce denials.

10. Days in accounts receivable (AR)

What it is and why it matters: This number has a direct impact on cash flow and the financial stability of your medical practice. Accounts aged over 120 days mean significant payment delays and potential missed revenue.

How to take action: Calculate by dividing the total AR amount by your practice’s average daily charges. Place in aging buckets of 0-30 days and so on. Increase patient payment options and correct billing processes when denials occur to help reduce AR.

Use your KPIs to unite your staff

A thriving medical practice depends on collaboration across every department. When your front desk, clinical, and billing teams are involved in tracking and reviewing KPIs relevant to their work, everyone can work toward an improved overall patient experience. If you’re having trouble tracking your KPIs, ModMed Analytics provides clear reports and data visualizations to help you. If you’re looking for more ways to interpret the data you find, get the data playbook below.

This blog is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or medical advice. Please consult with your legal counsel and other qualified advisors to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and standards.

​