A/R Aging Analysis Tool

Understanding Accounts Receivable Aging

Your accounts receivable aging report is one of the most important financial tools in medical practice management. It shows you not just how much money is owed to your practice, but how long it has been outstanding — and that timing matters enormously. The longer a claim goes unpaid, the less likely it is to ever be collected.

The Five Aging Buckets

A/R aging reports divide outstanding balances into standard time buckets from the date of service or claim submission:

• 0–30 days (Current): Claims submitted recently that are within normal payer processing time. This should be your largest bucket by far.
• 31–60 days: Claims that may need initial follow-up. Many payers process within 30 days, so claims in this bucket may have issues.
• 61–90 days: Claims requiring active follow-up. At this stage, something has likely gone wrong — a denial, a request for additional information, or a payer processing delay.
• 91–120 days: Approaching danger territory. Collection probability drops significantly, and timely filing deadlines for some payers may be approaching.
• 120+ days: Critical. Claims this old have the lowest collection probability and may be past timely filing limits for some payers.

Healthy A/R Distribution Benchmarks

Industry benchmarks from MGMA and HFMA suggest the following targets for a healthy A/R distribution:

• 0–30 days: 60% or more of total A/R
• 31–60 days: 15–20% of total A/R
• 61–90 days: 8–12% of total A/R
• 91–120 days: 5–8% of total A/R
• 120+ days: Under 8% of total A/R

The critical metric is your over-90-day percentage. If more than 15% of your total A/R is over 90 days old, your revenue cycle has a serious problem that is costing you money every month.

Why Claims Age and What to Do About It

Claims age for predictable reasons: denials that are not reworked promptly, missing information requests that go unanswered, incorrect patient demographics or insurance information, coding errors that trigger payer edits, and simple lack of follow-up. The solution is a systematic approach to A/R management that prioritizes claims by age and dollar value.

Best practices include following up on all unpaid claims at 21 days (not waiting until 45 or 60), working denials within 48 hours of receipt, and escalating claims approaching 90 days to senior staff. Automation tools can help flag aging claims, but human follow-up is what gets them paid.

How Atlas Billers Manages A/R Aging

Atlas Billers clients maintain an average of 68% of A/R in the 0–30 day bucket and under 8% over 90 days. We achieve this through daily A/R follow-up protocols, same-day denial rework, automated aging alerts, and dedicated follow-up specialists assigned to each client. Our systematic approach ensures no claim falls through the cracks, and our clients see measurable improvement in A/R health within the first 60 days of onboarding.