End-of-Year Metrics That Matter: What to Track (and Fix) Before 2026

As 2025 comes to a close, Medicaid-based care agencies—whether home or community-based—are racing to wrap up another challenging and fast-moving year. While planning for 2026, it’s just as important to look backward. What worked? What didn’t? What bottlenecks are quietly draining your resources?

Tracking and acting on key performance metrics before the year ends can help you avoid repeat mistakes and build a more resilient operation in the year ahead. Here are four metrics that matter most—and how to use them to sharpen your strategy.

1. Fill Rates: Are You Meeting Demand?

Your fill rate tells you how often your agency is successfully matching available caregivers or staff to open shifts. Low fill rates are more than just operational hiccups—they affect client satisfaction, care continuity, and even contract eligibility.

Why it matters:

• Missed visits could lead to compliance issues.

• Chronic low fill rates can result in family dissatisfaction or loss of referrals.

What to fix:

• Analyze fill rate trends by geography, service line, and time of day.

• Implement smarter scheduling software that matches caregiver availability with client need.

• Improve communication tools to reduce response time for shift offers.

2. Claim Rejections and Denials: Are You Leaving Money on the Table?

Rejections and denials are costly—not just in terms of delayed payments but also in labor hours spent on corrections and resubmissions.

Why it matters:

• High rejection rates slow your cash flow.

• Recurring denial reasons may indicate a deeper process problem.

What to fix:

• Run a report on your most common denial reasons.

• Review your billing and documentation workflow for avoidable errors.

• Consider integrated EMR and billing tools that automatically flag compliance issues before submission.

3. Late Documentation: Are You Risking Reimbursement?

If field documentation isn’t completed on time, everything downstream slows down—billing, audits, compliance reviews. It’s one of the most preventable causes of payment delays.

Why it matters:

• Timely documentation is often a requirement for Medicaid reimbursement.

• Delays can compromise care coordination and compliance readiness.

What to fix:

• Set clear, enforceable documentation timelines.

• Offer mobile-friendly documentation tools that reduce friction for field staff.

• Provide ongoing training on the importance of timely notes and reports.

4. Caregiver Turnover: Is Your Workforce Sustainable?

Tracking how many caregivers and DSPs you’ve lost this year—and when—can reveal patterns that point to fixable problems.

Why it matters:

• High turnover raises training costs and lowers morale.

• Consistent staff churn weakens client trust and increases scheduling chaos.

What to fix:

• Survey exiting staff to identify root causes (burnout, tech frustration, lack of support).

• Invest in user-friendly software that makes field work easier.

• Consider incentives for retention and recognition programs.

Use Data Now to Drive Better Decisions in 2026

Metrics only matter if you act on them. By tracking your fill rate, denial volume, documentation timeliness, and caregiver retention before the calendar flips, you can make informed decisions that boost operational efficiency and financial performance in the new year.

Don’t just measure to measure—measure to improve. 2026 will reward the agencies who start now. With Statewise, you’ll have the tools to track what matters, streamline operations, and stay ahead of the ever-changing Medicaid landscape.