Reducing claim denials starts with measuring your denial rate by payer, reason code, and service line, since a healthy target is under 5 percent and most practices sit above it without realizing it. From there, fixing eligibility checks, prior authorization, and documentation up front prevents the majority of denials, and grouping the rest by root cause fixes the pattern instead of working claims one by one.
A denial is not the end of a claim. It is rework. Someone has to read the reason code, find what was missing, correct it, and resubmit, often weeks after the visit. Reworking a single denied claim costs about $25 at a practice and about $181 at a hospital, according to the Journal of AHIMA (opens in a new tab), and a large share are never reworked at all. The goal is not to get better at appeals. It is to send fewer claims that get denied in the first place.
Start by measuring your denial rate
You cannot improve what you do not track. Your denial rate is the share of claims rejected or denied on first submission. A healthy target is under 5 percent, according to the AAFP (opens in a new tab), which calls 5 to 10 percent the industry average. MGMA (opens in a new tab) benchmarking puts first-submission denials at 7 to 8 percent over the past 4 years, and many practices do not know their own number. Break the number down by payer, by reason code, and by service line. The point is not one number. It is finding where the number is worst.
Fix the front end first
Most denials are decided before a claim is ever sent. 3 checks prevent the majority of them:
- Eligibility and benefits. Verify active coverage before the visit, not after the denial. Coverage lapses and plan changes are a leading cause of avoidable rejections.
- Prior authorization. Confirm that required authorizations are in place and that the auth matches the service and code being billed.
- Clean documentation and coding. Make sure the note supports the codes, the referral is attached, and the demographics are correct.
None of this is glamorous. All of it is cheaper than an appeal.
Work the patterns, not the pile
A worklist of 400 denials feels like 400 problems. It is usually 4 or 5. One payer, one reason code, one service line tends to drive most of the loss. Group your denials by root cause and fix the cause, so the same denial stops happening next week. Working claims one at a time is how teams stay busy and still fall behind.
Track first-pass approval over time
First-pass rate is the share of claims that clear on the first try. It is the cleanest signal that your front-end fixes are working. Watch it weekly. When it climbs, your denial rate falls and your cash arrives sooner, with less rework along the way.
Where Heron fits
Heron runs these checks for you, alongside the team and EMR you already use. It scores risky claims before they ship, names what is missing in plain language, and groups denials by root cause so leadership sees the patterns, not the noise. You can read more about denial prevention and denial intelligence.
Sources
- Practice finances and revenue cycle management, American Academy of Family Physicians (opens in a new tab)
- Days in A/R holds steady for most practices, but payer pressure persists in 2026, MGMA, July 30, 2026 (opens in a new tab)
- Claims Denials: A Step-by-Step Approach to Resolution, Journal of AHIMA, April 25, 2022 (opens in a new tab)