The short answer
Published contingency rates for medical AR recovery mostly fall between about 15% and 30% of what is recovered, with advertised floors as low as 5%. Quilven charges 12 to 15 percent of the recovered amount, with no fee on what is not recovered.
The rate matters less than what it is applied to: recovered aged claims only, or every dollar the practice collects while the vendor is engaged. Two quotes with the same percentage can produce very different invoices, so ask for the fee base in writing before you compare numbers.
The three pricing models
AR recovery vendors price in one of three ways. The model decides what you pay for, and who carries the risk when a claim does not pay.
Contingency on recovered amounts
The vendor takes a percentage of payments on the claims in scope. No recovery, no fee. This is the most common model, and it fits a defined backlog such as a fixed-scope aged AR cleanup, where both sides can see exactly which claims count.
Who it suitsSuits practices with a known list of aged claims and no appetite for upfront cost.
Percentage of total collections
The vendor takes a percentage of everything the practice collects during the engagement, including payments that would have arrived anyway. OmniMD's aged AR guide ties project fees to what is actually collected from the aged balance, which is the safer base to insist on.
Who it suitsSuits an ongoing billing relationship, not a recovery project. On recovery work it pays the vendor for money it did not touch.
Flat fee per claim or per project
A set price per claim worked, or one price for the whole project. It is predictable, but the vendor is paid whether claims pay or not. ClaimClick Solutions, for example, describes its pricing as a percentage of recovered revenue or a flat fee per claim.
Who it suitsSuits large volumes of low-risk claims where the work is routine and the payout is likely.
What published rates look like
Few vendors publish a number. These are the ones that do, with what each figure is applied to. Read the third column first.
| Source | Published figure | What it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| OmniMD (aged AR guide) | 15% to 25% | Collections on the aged balance |
| Credex Healthcare | 20% to 30% | Amount recovered, contingency |
| Go Medical Billing | 25% to 30% | Contingency, used as an example |
| CareSolution MBS | "beginning at 5%" | What is recovered |
| Quilven | 12% to 15% | Recovered amount; nothing on what is not recovered |
Vendor-published figures, not audited benchmarks. Last checked: 30 Sep 2026.
A "from 5%" floor is not a quote. Ask what the rate is for your claim age and payer mix, and ask which claims it covers. The figures above are what each vendor chose to publish, not a survey of the market, and they are not comparable to collection agency or legal contingency rates, which price a different kind of work. For how the two services differ beyond price, see AR recovery vs a collection agency.
What moves the rate
Three things set where a quote lands: claim age, claim volume and payer mix. For Quilven, where a practice falls in the 12 to 15 percent range depends on exactly these three.
Claim age
Older claims take more work per dollar: records requests, proof of timely filing, and appeals instead of simple resubmissions. A backlog weighted toward claims past 180 days usually prices toward the top of any range.
Claim volume
Volume spreads the fixed work of setup, payer research and reporting across more claims. A few hundred claims with meaningful balances usually prices lower per dollar than a short list of scattered ones.
Payer mix
Some payers resolve with a phone call or portal correction; others need written reconsideration and long follow-up. A mix heavy in slow or paper-based payers raises the effort behind each recovered dollar.
Then ask about the charges that sit outside the percentage. Setup or onboarding fees, monthly minimums that apply whether anything is recovered, and per-claim charges added on top of the contingency can each change the real cost more than a few points of rate. Ask for every fee on one page. For comparison, here is Quilven's full pricing.
The math, with round numbers
The fee base changes the bill more than the rate does. Two round examples show why.
Illustrative arithmetic. Not a result and not a forecast.
Fee on a hypothetical $100,000 recovered
At 12 to 15 percent, the fee is $12,000 to $15,000. At 25 percent, it is $25,000. The practice keeps $85,000 to $88,000 in the first case and $75,000 in the second.
The collections trap
At 20 percent of all collections over a three-month engagement, a practice collecting $300,000 in normal revenue pays $60,000 before a single aged claim is recovered.
The second case is the one to watch. The rate looks moderate, but the base includes payments the vendor never worked. If a contract says "collections" without limiting it to the claims in scope, ask for that limit in writing. Before you compare any quote, estimate what your aged AR is worth so you know the size of the base you are pricing.
Contract terms to read before you sign
The rate is one line in the agreement. These five terms decide what that rate actually costs. They apply whether your billing is done by in-house staff or by an outside billing company, since a recovery vendor can sit alongside either.
What counts as "recovered"
Payments on scoped claims only. Ask whether patient payments on those claims count, and whether payments on claims your own staff were already working count.
Write-offs and adjustments
Never billable. A contractual adjustment or a write-off is not money received, and no fee should attach to it.
Tail period
Payments often land after an engagement ends. Ask how long the vendor can bill on those, and on which claims.
Minimums and term
Look for monthly minimums, notice periods and auto-renewal. A project should end when the scoped claims are resolved.
Data return and a BAA
A business associate agreement before any patient data moves, and a clear promise to return or destroy data at the end.
If you already have an agreement with a billing company, the same questions apply to it: who owns the data, what happens to open claims at exit, and what the notice period is. You can check your contract's clauses against these points before you add a second vendor.
How to check a vendor before you pay
A price only means something if you can see the work behind it. Three checks take less than an hour.
- Ask for a sample weekly report. It should show collections, resubmissions, appeals, and the cause of each denial.
- Ask how any recovery rate is measured: recovered against the full backlog, or against only the claims still collectible. Here is how recovery rates are measured.
- Read reviews on a third-party platform, not only the testimonials on the vendor's site.
The same test applies to us. Quilven's reviews are on Trustpilot. One review describes the weekly reporting this way:
"weekly updates regarding collections, provides you with a weekly summary of collections, resubmissions, appeals, and the cause of the initial denial."
When paying for recovery is not worth it
Recovery work is not always the right spend. Three situations usually mean the fee will not pay for itself:
- AR over 90 days is already under the HFMA MAP Keys line of 10 percent of total receivables.
- Most aged claims are past every filing and appeal window, with no proof of submission.
- The balances are too small to cover the work of chasing them.
In those cases, the better spend is on the front end so fewer claims age in the first place. To see where you stand, compare your aging against benchmarks.