How Urgent Care Case Study: Managing a 258% Patient Surge

Lister Helped an Urgent Care Center Turn a 258% Patient Volume Surge into Sustainable Revenue Growth

Executive Summary

A single-location Urgent Care and Primary Care center experienced an unprecedented surge in patient volume during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven largely by uninsured patients eligible for HRSA reimbursement programs. Charge volumes increased by 258% compared to normal operations, creating significant billing, payment posting, and accounts receivable (AR) management challenges.

Lister scaled operations rapidly, implemented structured workflows, maintained timely claim submissions, strengthened center coordination, and intensified AR follow-up efforts. Despite the extraordinary volume increase, the center successfully converted the surge into sustained financial performance improvements, reducing AR Days from a peak of 130 to 38, lowering Closing AR by over 80%, and nearly doubling Revenue per Patient.

Client Profile

The Challenge

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the center experienced an unexpected influx of patients requiring testing, treatment, and vaccine-related services.

Key challenges included:

Extraordinary growth in charge volume and payment volume.
Significant increase in uninsured patients eligible under HRSA reimbursement programs.
Elevated billing workload and payment posting requirements.
Rising AR balances and operational pressure on revenue cycle processes.

Root Cause Analysis

Lister identified that the primary driver of volume growth was the sharp increase in COVID-related encounters reimbursed through the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) program for uninsured patients.

The resulting surge created:

Lister’s Intervention

Lister implemented a comprehensive end-to-end revenue cycle strategy focused on operational scalability and process discipline.

Key actions included:

Processed COVID-related charges and payments without delays despite record volumes.
Maintained a 3-day claim submission cycle to preserve cash flow.
Established weekly client assistance logs and bi-weekly operational reviews.
Coordinated closely with providers to resolve unsigned encounters and pending documentation.
Supported ERA enrollments during the transition from DocuTap to eCW.
Strengthened AR follow-up processes to accelerate collections.
Implemented structured communication workflows for pending billing clarifications.

Results

Successfully Managed a 258% Volume Increase.
Despite the surge, claims and payments were processed without significant delays.
Significant Reduction in AR Days
Metric / Value
Initial AR Days(Nov2020) / 79
Peak AR Days During COVID Surge / 130
Average AR Days (2025) / 45
AR Days (Apr 2026) / 38
Closing AR Reduced by More Than 80%
Outcome: Over $2.9M reduction in outstanding receivables.
Revenue per Patient Nearly Doubled
Outcome: Revenue per Patient increased by approximately 95% from billing
transition to current performance.

Business Impact

By combining scalable billing operations, disciplined claim management, proactive client coordination, and rigorous AR follow-up, Lister transformed a pandemic driven operational challenge into a sustainable revenue growth opportunity. The center not only successfully navigated a 258% increase in billing volume but also achieved stronger financial performance, healthier AR metrics, and significantly improved revenue realization.

Want to Increase Improve Your Claims, Collections and Optimize Your Revenue with our Complete Medical Billing Services?

Since 2004, our experienced medical billing service experts have been serving physician practices, medical groups and medical billing companies of all sizes and specialties across the United States. We leverage our domain expertise in 24 specialties and experience in 25 Practice Management Softwares to ensure quicker cash flows for your practice. Contact us today at contact@listerventures.com or CALL: 855-299-8693, Ext. 1049

Growth should strengthen your practice, not overwhelm your revenue cycle. Whether you’re opening new locations, expanding services, or experiencing higher patient volumes, your billing processes must be able to scale without compromising collections or cash flow. Lister helps healthcare organizations build efficient, scalable revenue cycle operations that continue to perform even during periods of rapid growth. If your practice is preparing for expansion or struggling to keep pace with demand, we’re ready to help.

Why Healthcare Providers Choose Lister?

20+ years as Trusted RCM Partner.
5 M+ claims in Urgent Care, Primary Care & Family Practice.
98% First Pass Acceptance Rate.
<5% Initial Claim Denial Rate.
<10% Over 90 Days AR.
Working with one of the largest Urgent Care Brands in the US.
HIPAA Compliant & Secure processes.

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