Process & Workflow
How to Measure Subrogation Performance: The Metrics That Matter
The key subrogation KPIs, from recovery rate and net recovery to identification rate and cycle time, and why measuring against recoverable dollars is what reveals true performance.
6 min readUpdated July 27, 2026
A subrogation program can look healthy on the files it works and still leak heavily on the files it never opens. Measuring the right things, against the right baseline, is what separates real performance from the appearance of it.
The metrics that matter
- Recovery rate: dollars recovered against dollars that were genuinely recoverable, not just against what was pursued. This baseline is the one most programs get wrong.
- Net recovery: what is kept after the cost of collecting, so efficiency is visible, not just gross dollars.
- Identification rate: the share of files reviewed for third-party liability. Low identification is where most leakage begins.
- Cycle time: how long a recovery takes from identification to collection, which affects both cost and expiry risk.
- Leakage: the recoverable dollars never pursued, estimated honestly rather than ignored.
What moves the numbers
Two levers improve a subrogation program: closing pursued claims more effectively, and widening the net of files reviewed at all. The second is usually the larger opportunity and the harder one to scale by hand, which is where reading every file with AI changes the identification rate directly.
What is a good subrogation recovery rate?+
It depends on line of business and how the rate is defined. The more useful question is whether you are measuring against dollars that were genuinely recoverable rather than just against what you pursued, since only the former reveals missed opportunity.
Why measure net recovery instead of gross?+
Because a high gross recovery that is eaten by fees and expenses is not the same as an efficient program. Net recovery shows which pursuits actually pay.
See it on one of your own claims.
Bring a claim file and we’ll run Certvian’s analysis live: chronology, liability, recovery viability, the drafted demand.
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