A delay in entering invoice charges is associated with a decrease in total invoice amount in equine practice

To evaluate the relationship in equine practice between the time delay for charge entry (time between when work was performed and when the invoice charges were entered) and the total amount of the invoice.

A total of 67,597 invoices from 3 hospitals were included for analysis.

Analysis of 67,597 invoices from 49 doctors working out of 3 hospitals was performed. Variables collected included invoice total, date of work, date of invoice entry, month of work, invoice category (A = ambulatory daytime, E = after-hours, I = hospital), and veterinarian. Time delay to invoice entry was the difference between the day of work and the day of charge entry. A generalized additive model was used to describe the relationship between the time delay for invoice entry and the invoice type, month of work, and invoice category. The best model was selected using the Akaike information criterion.

In the selected model, total invoice amount was associated with time delay for charge entry and invoice category. Invoices entered on the same day of work were 299 ± $345, as compared to those entered the next day (255 ± $271) and those entered > 1 day after the work was performed (193 ± $196; P < .0001).

If the observed relationship between time delay (time between work performed and invoice entry) and total invoice amount is causal, equine practitioners may have significant opportunity to improve revenues by simply entering charges on the same day the work is performed.