What is the difference between billing revenue and collections?

Question

In the Medical Office

Answer 1

Medical practices have 2 types of patients - walk-in patients and corporate patients. Walk-ins usually pay by cash or credit card, corporates are billed once monthly and they pay when billed. All this is revenue to the practice. It's only a question of when you see the cash - immediately or in a month's time. Collections can mean different things to different people. To the cashier, it could mean that day's collections as per the patients seen cos she has to tally them both. To the boss, collections probably mean the practice's cash flow, as in how much money came in this month? That would mean cash inflow from all sources.