Billing Performance vs. Revenue Cycle Management: Know the Difference, Track Them Both
If you own or operate a gym, one of the most important, and often overlooked, KPIs is your billing performance.
This metric tells you how much of your monthly billed dues you’re actually collecting in the same billing month. It’s a leading indicator of cash flow health and the efficiency of your payment systems.
Let’s break it down:
You bill $100,000 in dues this month.
You collect $92,000 by the end of the month — even after a few reattempts.
Your billing performance = 92%
But what about the remaining $8,000?
That’s where Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) comes in. RCM tracks your longer-term collections, including payments that come in 30, 60, or even 90+ days late. It also includes recovery efforts like retries, outreach, and dunning campaigns.
If you recover another $6,000 of the original $8,000 in the following months, that shows up in your RCM metrics, not your billing performance.
Both KPIs matter:
Billing performance = real-time cash flow
RCM = long-term revenue recovery and operational effectiveness
Together billing performance and RCM will also give you insight into micro-economic conditions that may be impacting your business, region etc.
Too many operators look at total revenue and stop there — but without understanding how much of it is actually collected, and when, you’re running blind.
Track both. Optimize both. And run your billing like it’s a business within your business.
