GLOSSARY · THE CLOCK

Timely filing.

The deadline for getting a bill in front of the payer at all. Miss it and the bill is not late — it is worthless, no matter how good the documentation is.

No card. No contract. Your data stays on your computer.
What it is

A hard deadline, set by the state, on the whole bill.

Every workers’-compensation jurisdiction sets some limit on how long after the date of service a provider has to submit a bill. Where our research verified one, the range is wide:

Several states publish nothing we could verify, which is its own kind of answer: ask the agency rather than assume the most generous number you have heard. Current as of July 2026 — verify with your state’s agency.

Why it matters to you

The clock does not care that the work was authorised and done.

The dangerous case is not the bill you forgot. It is the bill you sent and nobody paid, that you meant to chase, from a plan that ran eight months. Or the short-paid line you flagged in March and rebilled in the following February.

Two disciplines cover it. Keep proof of submission — in a fax state, the confirmation page filed into the claimant’s folder the same day is your evidence. And keep an aging list that shows days outstanding against the clock, not just days outstanding.

Where to go next

Related pages.

The timely-filing lookup gives your state’s deadline from a date of service, and says so plainly where our research did not verify one. Sending with proof is the filing-evidence half.

Aging  ·  Authorisation

← Back to the glossary

See your own week run itself.

Fifteen minutes, your state’s codes on screen — or start the trial and poke around on your own.

Book a demo Call us