Payor contracting

Payor and managed care contracting services

We renegotiate your reimbursement rates, negotiate network participation with the payors your patients use, including ones that say they’re closed, and check that new rates are paid as signed. Payor contract negotiation for practices, hospitals and ancillary providers in all 50 states since 1994.

Watch a rate review in 40 seconds. Example practice and data.

1994
Founded
50,000+
Payor contracts handled by our team
9,000+
Payor contacts
All 50
States served

Founded in 1994 as Healthcents, PayrHealth since 2021.

Trusted by providers including
Our framework

The payor contracting cycle

Revenue cycle management has a map everyone follows. Payor contracting never had one. This is ours: six stages, run in order and repeated at every renewal. Each draws on three layers: market data, the precedent of tens of thousands of contracts and interactions, and the people at the table.

Each stage draws onMarket dataPayrHealth dealsHuman judgment

The payor contracting cycle, six stages that repeat at every renewal. 1 Inventory: contracts gathered, terms abstracted, renewal calendar. 2 Benchmark: market comparison, payor mix and lives, gap in dollars. 3 Strategy: targets by payor, value case, negotiation order. 4 Negotiate: payor outreach, offers and counters, contract language. 5 Execute: signed agreement, enrollment aligned, rates loaded. 6 Monitor: paid as signed, underpayments, policy changes. Each stage draws on some of three layers: market data, PayrHealth deals and human judgment. Then renewal: notice windows tracked, performance reviewed, and the cycle runs again with a better inventory.

Click a stage, or let it run.
01

Inventory

Every contract in one place, its terms abstracted and its dates on a calendar. You cannot manage what you have not read.

Draws on PayrHealth deals and human judgment.

A preview of stage 02

A free rate review runs a first benchmark on your own contracts: where each sits and what it could pay.

See if you qualify for a free rate review
  1. Inventory

    Every contract in one place, its terms abstracted and its dates on a calendar. You cannot manage what you have not read.

    Draws on PayrHealth deals and human judgment.

  2. Benchmark

    Each contract compared with the best-paid quarter of providers like you, for the same codes, in your market, and what it could pay.

    Draws on market data and PayrHealth deals.

  3. Strategy

    A target and a case for each payor, in an order set by the dollars at stake and each contract’s renewal date.

    Draws on market data, PayrHealth deals and human judgment.

  4. Negotiate

    Outreach, offers and counters, and the terms that decide what a rate is worth: timely filing, recoupment, amendments.

    Draws on PayrHealth deals and human judgment.

  5. Execute

    Signed, enrolled and loaded. A rate that is not in the billing system is not a rate yet.

    Draws on human judgment.

  6. Monitor

    Payments checked against the contract, underpayments recovered, payor policy changes caught. Paid as signed.

    Draws on market data, PayrHealth deals and human judgment.

Renewal. Notice windows tracked, performance reviewed, and the cycle runs again with a better inventory than the last time.

Where the money goes

Most of your revenue is priced by payor contracts. Know what you signed.

The US spent $5.3 trillion on healthcare in 2024. Nearly $3 trillion of it went through payors and reached providers at whatever rates their contracts set. Yours work the same way.

Of $5.3 trillion in total, households paid about $1.5 trillion, employers about $1.0 trillion and governments about $2.5 trillion; $0.3 trillion of other private funding is not shown. About $3 trillion of that money went to payors (commercial, Marketplace, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care plans), which paid providers at contracted rates. The rest was paid to providers directly. About $4.3 trillion reached providers in total.

A free rate review shows where each contract sits against the best-paid quarter of practices like yours, for the same codes, in your market, and which could pay more.

See if you qualify for a free rate review

Source: CMS, National Health Expenditure Accounts, 2024 (January 2026 release), shown by who pays: households, private businesses, and federal, state and local governments. Medicare payroll taxes count under households and employers. $0.3 trillion of other private funding, such as philanthropy, is left out of both sides of the chart. Payors are commercial, Marketplace, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care plans; the Medicare Advantage share is from KFF and the Medicaid managed care share from MACPAC. “Providers” is PayrHealth’s estimate of payments for care; about $0.7 trillion of the spending shown did not pay for care: insurers’ administration and margin, government program administration, public health and research. Figures are rounded.

What our insurance contract negotiation services cover

Our payor contracting services cover higher rates on the contracts you have, new contracts where the lives are, and the part of every contract that never reaches the bank.

Where to look first

Three contracts worth a call

Ranked by each payor’s share of commercial lives and the size of the gap to the best-paid quarter of your peers. Example data

  1. 1
    Payor B44% of commercial lives
    24% below the top quarter
  2. 2
    Payor U20% of commercial lives
    12% below the top quarter
  3. 3
    Payor C12% of commercial lives
    18% below the top quarter

Payor H has a bigger gap than Payor U but a tenth of the lives; Payor A is in the top quarter.

See if you qualify for a free rate review

Example data. Rank reflects the size of the gap, not what you can close; that depends on your leverage with each payor.

Mississippi Urology Outpatient Surgery Center: an 80% rate improvement worth $235,675 in its first year. Read the case study

Closed networks

When a network says it is closed

The play that opens it: who to go to, with what, and in what order. Example sequence

  1. Provider relationsSays the network is closed. Expected, and where most practices stop.
  2. Network managerThe access gap: lives in the area, drive times, wait times.
  3. Contracting directorThe business case: cost per episode, quality, referral patterns.
  4. Market VPThe clinical case, with the medical director where it helps, and a specific ask.
  5. ContractSigned, loaded and paying.

A closed network opens at the right level, with the right case, in the right order.

Ask about a network that said no

Example sequence. Levels and order vary by payor and market.

Precision Medical Products: 3 contracts with payors that had called their networks closed, and 6M+ new lives. Read the case study

New contracts

Get into new networks

Reach more of your market by signing the payors whose members live there. Example data

4payors in network, up from 4
38%of the market’s commercial lives reachable, up from 38%
Who holds the commercial lives in your market
Payor B 44%Payor U 20%Payor C 12%

Three new contracts put you in network for nearly twice the commercial lives in your market.

See which networks you can join

Example data. Your map starts from your contracts and the lives in your market.

Integrated Respiratory Solutions: 659,369 covered lives reached through new Missouri network access. Read the case study

Revenue cycle

What your contracts actually pay

For every $100 you are contracted to receive, how much reaches the bank, and where the rest goes. Example data

$12 of every $100 is lost or late, and $3 of it is payors paying less than the contract you negotiated.

At this example’s yield, $300,000 a year is lost or late, $75,000 of it from payors paying below contract.

Check your yield to cash

Example data. Each dollar lands in exactly one row: paid, still owed after 90 days, or lost to a denial, an underpayment or an unpaid patient balance. A yield check compares your remits with your contracts, claim by claim.

Priority Hospital Group: $330K recovered from claims underpaid under site-neutral payment policies. Read the case study

Credentialing and provider enrollment, kept current so new contracts start paying on time. Contract management after signing is part of complete payor management.

The first year, month by month

The cycle above, run for the first time, counted from kickoff. Reporting runs alongside every phase, so you can see where each payor stands.

Month
036912+

Onboarding

Month 0Stage 01, Inventory

We assign your client success lead, collect every contract and your credentialing information, and agree on the project plan and payor strategy at a kickoff meeting.

Benchmark and strategy

Months 0–1Stages 02–03

We analyze your current contracts against the market and build the value proposition each payor will hear.

Payor negotiations

Months 1–7Stage 04, Negotiate

We engage your payor contacts, make the case for your practice, and manage every offer and counteroffer.

Execute and monitor

Month 8 onwardStages 05–06

New rates take effect and new contracts bring in new patients. We load the rates, check payments against them, and keep managing your payor portfolio.

Reporting

ThroughoutAlongside every stage

Regular status meetings and quarterly reports on progress and results, from kickoff onward.

A typical first lap of the cycle. Each payor moves at its own pace, and renewal starts the next one.

As seen in

What clients say

“They use rigorous data analysis as the basis for developing a solid negotiating approach.”

Leland Tong, MD · Google review

“We highly recommend their services to any healthcare provider looking to optimize their revenue.”

Dr. Rajesh Gupta, Medical Director, AFC of Yorktown

“They will take the time to help you figure out what you need and then work with you to achieve it.”

David Siegel · Google review

“They are very easy to work with and incredibly responsive when we have questions.”

Brandi Garlutzo · Google review

Payor contracting questions

What does a free rate review include?

We benchmark each of your payor contracts, using payor price transparency data, against what the best-paid quarter of practices like yours are paid for the same codes in your market, and show which contracts could pay more. Not every gap can be closed, since some of it reflects leverage, and the review shows you which is which. It’s free, with no obligation.

How long does payor contracting take?

It varies by payor. Negotiations usually begin about a month after kickoff, and new rates and contracts typically take effect 8 to 12 months in, once contracts are signed and credentialing is done.

What if a payor says its network is closed?

Closed often means closed to new applicants on standard terms. We build the case a payor needs to make room, such as gaps in its network, members you’re already turning away, or a service others in your area don’t offer, and take it past the first no.

Which contract terms do you negotiate besides rates?

The language can matter as much as the fee schedule. We negotiate terms such as overpayment recoupment limits, prior authorization protections, timely filing windows, a payor’s right to amend the contract on its own, and contract length.

Do you handle credentialing too?

Yes. When a new practice opens, or a contract needs new providers or locations credentialed, we coordinate credentialing with the payor so the contract can start on its target date. Credentialing is also available on its own.

What does payor contracting cost?

It depends on scope: how many payors and contracts, and what we're negotiating. Engagements are priced as a fixed fee for a defined scope, a monthly fee for ongoing contract management, a performance fee tied to the increase we negotiate, or a value share of the added revenue the new contracts bring in. After a first call we send a quote, and the client services agreement sets out pricing and scope before work starts.

Should we outsource payor contracting or keep it in-house?

Keep it in-house if someone on your team negotiates with payors regularly, knows current market rates for your codes, and has time for a process that runs 8 to 12 months. Most practices don’t have that person, and payors negotiate every day. Outsourcing brings market data, payor contacts, and someone whose only job is to keep the negotiation moving.

See where your rates stand

A free rate review benchmarks each of your payor contracts against the best-paid quarter of your peers, using payor price transparency data, and shows which gaps a negotiation could close. No obligation.

After you submit, practices that qualify pick a time with our team on the next screen.

(800) 497-4970 · info@payrhealth.com