A good net collection rate is about 96.0% or higher, and the median family medicine practice reached 97.1% in MGMA DataDive's 2025 Financials and Operations survey of 2024 data. Advanced Data Systems, citing MGMA, says a rate below 90.0% points to weak denial management, missed charges, or underpayment.
The number is easy to calculate and easy to misread. The sources below give different medians because they use different specialties, survey years, and bases.
How the Published Benchmarks Compare
Net collection rate is payments divided by gross charges minus contractual adjustments, according to Harine Management's May 15, 2026 guide. The base is what the contract allows, not what the practice bills. That is why it runs far higher than the gross collection rate, which MGMA DataDive put at a median of 49.1% for family medicine practices in the same 2025 survey.
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Net collection rate, median, family medicine (2024 data) | 97.1% | MGMA DataDive 2025 Financials and Operations survey, shown by Forvis Mazars, April 2026 |
| Net collection rate, median, primary care | 95.1% | MGMA 2023 Cost and Revenue Report, cited by Harine Management, May 2026 |
| Net collection rate, 90th percentile, primary care | 97.5% or higher | MGMA 2023 Cost and Revenue Report, cited by Harine Management |
| Net collection rate, bottom quartile, primary care | Below 91.0% | MGMA 2023 Cost and Revenue Report, cited by Harine Management |
| Net collection rate, MGMA standard | 96.0% | Advanced Data Systems, March 27, 2026, citing MGMA |
| Gross collection rate, median, family medicine (2024 data) | 49.1% | MGMA DataDive 2025 Financials and Operations survey, shown by Forvis Mazars |
The spread between the 2023 bottom quartile and the 2023 top decile is more than 6.0 points. A practice at 91.0% and a practice at 97.5% bill for the same kind of work. The difference sits in the revenue cycle.
Where Collections Leak
MGMA asked practice leaders in a January 6, 2026 Stat poll, with 288 applicable responses, where their revenue cycle leaks most. Denials and appeals led at 48.0%. Front-end issues followed at 23.0%, billing and collections at 14.0%, coding at 13.0%, and charge posting at 2.0%.
Denials matter most because many are never worked. Forvis Mazars, citing a 2024 Change Healthcare study, reports that 60.0% of denied claims are never resubmitted. Harine Management cites HFMA for a figure of up to 65.0%. Each unworked denial lowers the numerator of the net collection rate directly.
The first-pass denial rate sets how many claims enter that queue. MGMA benchmarking puts first-submission denials at 7.0% to 8.0% across the past four years, according to MGMA Stat on July 30, 2026. The 2025 MGMA data report suggests process fixes can push the rate below 5.0%. The median family medicine practice sat at 7.1% in the 2025 survey.
Rework has a price. The Forvis Mazars deck cites Healthcare Business Insight's 2024 hospital benchmarks for an average cost of $118 to formally appeal one denied claim.
The Numbers to Read Beside It
A high net collection rate can hide slow cash. MGMA DataDive's 2025 survey shows the median family medicine practice at 69.8 net days in A/R. It shows 27.9% of A/R older than 90 days and 22.9% older than 120 days. Charge posting lag had a median of 5.0 days.
Clean claim rate shows a conflict between sources. The Forvis Mazars deck lists a median of 85.0% for family medicine, from MGMA DataDive's 2024 survey of 2023 data. Advanced Data Systems lists a target of 95.0% or higher and calls anything below 90.0% a front-end accuracy problem. The first figure is a median of real practices. The second is a goal.
Front-end numbers feed the same result. Insurance verification ran at a median of 87.0% in the 2024 survey. Practices collected 74.0% of copays and 60.0% of patient balances at the time of service, based on the 2025 survey of family medicine practices.
On speed, MGMA's July 28, 2026 Stat poll of 203 leaders found that 43.0% saw days in A/R about the same as a year earlier. Another 32.0% saw them rise, 22.0% saw them fall, and 3.0% were unsure.
What a Point Is Worth
The base for the arithmetic is allowed charges, meaning gross charges after contractual adjustments. A practice with $2,500,000 in allowed charges collects $25,000 less for each point of net collection rate it gives up. At $1,200,000, a 2.0-point drop costs $24,000.
Against the 97.1% median, a practice at 91.0% leaves 6.1 points uncollected. On $2,500,000 in allowed charges, that is $152,500 a year. The figure is simple multiplication, not a survey result, and it ignores bad debt that a practice would never collect under any process.
Practice size changes the stakes but not the method. MGMA's own benchmarking reaches more than 4,000 medical groups in its Better Performers data set, according to MGMA's February 14, 2023 article, so a practice can compare itself with groups of similar size and specialty. A family medicine median does not fit a surgical group.
The check takes three inputs from the practice management system: payments, gross charges, and contractual adjustments. Pull them by payer and by month, then compare each payer against the practice median. Harine Management suggests working each denial within 7 business days.
Sources
- Forvis Mazars, Know Your KPIs, Cash Flow and Claims Optimization (Kansas MGMA Annual Conference), April 2026
- Harine Management, Net Collection Rate for Primary Care, May 15, 2026
- Advanced Data Systems, Is Your Revenue Cycle Actually Healthy? The Numbers That Matter in 2026, March 27, 2026
- MGMA Stat, Detecting and fixing leaks across the revenue cycle, January 7, 2026
- MGMA, Foundational benchmarks and KPIs for medical practice operations in 2023, February 14, 2023
- MGMA Stat, Days in A/R holds steady for most practices, but payer pressure persists in 2026, July 30, 2026
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