Insurance Reimbursement
Payment from insurance companies for services rendered, typically arriving 14 to 90 days after the procedure in dental and medical practices.
What is Insurance Reimbursement?
Insurance reimbursement is the payment a healthcare or dental practice receives from an insurance payer for services provided to insured patients. After a procedure is performed and a claim is submitted, the payer processes the claim and issues payment according to its fee schedule and processing timeline.
Reimbursement timelines vary significantly by payer. Some process claims in 14 days. Others routinely take 60 to 90 days. A practice with a mixed payer panel has reimbursements arriving in waves rather than as predictable monthly inflows.
The gap between performing a service and receiving reimbursement is the central cash flow challenge for dental and medical practices. Production is recorded when the service is delivered. Cash arrives weeks or months later. During that gap, payroll, supplies, and equipment costs continue on schedule. Read more in our dental practice cash flow guide. Practices that forecast by payer and aging bucket replace guesswork with a collection calendar they can trust for payroll decisions.
Why it matters
Practices that plan cash based on production rather than expected reimbursements overestimate available funds. Tracking reimbursement by payer with aging visibility is essential for payroll confidence.
Example
A crown procedure performed June 3 with a $1,200 reimbursement. Claim submitted June 4. Payer processes in 45 days. Payment arrives July 19. Payroll ran three times between service and collection.
How RunwayCal helps
RunwayCal tracks insurance claims as expected collections with per-payer aging, so you see when cash will arrive rather than just how much is owed.
Common mistakes
- 1Treating production reports as cash flow indicators
- 2Using a single receivables total without payer aging
- 3Not tracking per-payer processing time differences
Get the Financial Clarity Newsletter
Practical tips on cash flow, runway, and financial decisions for founders, business owners, CFOs, investors, and board members. Free, weekly, no spam.
See when reimbursements will arrive
RunwayCal tracks insurance claims as expected collections with per-payer aging buckets.
Track reimbursements → Free