Accounts Receivable Management Guide: How to Collect Faster and Keep A/R Healthy

An aging report groups outstanding balances by how long they have been unpaid, typically in buckets such as 0 to 30, 31 to 60, 61 to 90, 91 to 120 and over 120 days. Review it by payer, provider and location as well as in total.

Healthy A/R is concentrated in the earliest buckets, since most claims are paid within a few weeks. A large share in the oldest buckets signals problems with follow-up, denials or billing processes.

Track these numbers regularly:

Claims age for a handful of reasons: they were never received by the payer, they were rejected and not corrected, they were denied and not appealed, they are pending because information is missing, they were underpaid, or the balance belongs to a patient who was never billed properly. Each cause needs a different action, so research each account before acting.

Define a cadence that fits your volume. A common approach is to check claim status around two weeks after submission, then again at 30 days and weekly after that for unpaid claims. Use payer portals and clearinghouse status tools first, and call payers when necessary.

Document every action with the date, the person contacted, the outcome and the next step. This prevents repeated work and creates a defensible record for appeals.

Rank accounts by dollar value, age and deadline. High-value claims nearing their filing or appeal limit come first. Smaller balances are worked in batches. Reassess regularly, as claims move between buckets.

Route denials into a structured denial workflow, with categories, deadlines and appeals. For underpayments, compare each payment with the contracted rate or fee schedule. Dispute variances with supporting evidence. Over time, track which payers underpay most, since the data helps in contract discussions.

After the primary payer pays, bill the secondary promptly with the primary remittance attached. Then transfer any remaining responsibility to the patient with a clear statement. Delays here quietly add to your A/R and make patient collection harder.

Some balances are not collectible, such as claims past filing limits, services not covered with no appeal basis or accounts where reasonable effort has failed. Establish a write-off policy with approval levels, and track write-offs by reason. A rising write-off rate can reveal process failures.

If you have a large backlog, treat it as a project:

Qurexa RCM Solutions provides dedicated AR recovery for aging claims, underpayments and unresolved balances. Our specialists research each account, correct and resubmit, appeal when justified and report on every claim worked. If you have aging balances you cannot reach, contact us for a free A/R review.