What is charge lag, and how do I shrink it?

Charge lag is the time between the date of service and the day the charge is actually entered and the claim goes out — every day of lag pushes payment later and risks timely-filing limits. Keeping charge lag under about two days keeps cash moving and prevents claims from quietly aging toward a filing deadline before they're even submitted.

What actually matters

• Measure it: average days from date of service to charge entry, by provider
• Target under ~2 days; longer lag delays cash and eats into timely-filing windows
• The usual culprit is documentation lag — unsigned notes hold the charge, so same-day signing shrinks both
• Missing charges are worse than late ones; a reconciliation between schedule and charges catches encounters that never got billed
• Track by provider — lag usually concentrates with a few, and that's where the fix lands

Common questions

Where Volari fits: Charge lag is a front-end timing problem; Volari's lane is the back end — the denied and underpaid claims that slip after submission — but both share the same enemy: claims aging past a deadline before anyone works them.

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