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
Why does charge lag matter if the claim still gets paid?
Because it delays every downstream step and shortens your timely-filing runway. A claim entered late has less room to be corrected, resubmitted, or appealed before the payer's window closes — so lag quietly raises your risk of losing claims outright.
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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