Understanding how to read an AR aging report allows medical practices to identify overdue insurance claims, resolve aged accounts, and boost collection efficiency.
What Is an AR Aging Report?
An accounts receivable (AR) aging report categorizes your outstanding claims and patient balances by how long they've been unpaid — typically in 30-day increments: 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, and 120+ days. It's the single best snapshot of your practice's revenue cycle health.
Reading Your AR Aging Report: What Each Bucket Means
- 0–30 days: Normal — most claims paid within 14–21 days by commercial payers
- 31–60 days: Follow up on claims not yet adjudicated or showing as pending
- 61–90 days: Red flag — proactive payer phone calls required; check for denied/pended claims
- 91–120 days: Critical — these claims risk timely filing limits; escalate immediately
- 120+ days: Danger zone — many of these are uncollectable; root-cause analysis needed
Industry Benchmark: Healthy practices have <15% of total AR in
the 90+ day bucket. If yours is above 20%, your revenue cycle needs immediate attention.
The 5 Actions to Take Right Now
- Run an aging report segmented by payer to identify your highest-denial carriers
- Pull all claims in the 61–90 day bucket and check status in each payer portal
- File appeals immediately for all denied claims within timely filing limits
- Review all 120+ day claims for write-off eligibility and bad debt thresholds
- Schedule a billing audit to identify the systemic causes of your aging AR