Accounts Receivable (AR) Aging Reduction: Strategies That Work in 30-, 60-, and 90-Day Buckets

Managing Accounts Receivable (AR) is one of the most crucial aspects of revenue cycle management (RCM). When healthcare organizations let AR balances age beyond control, cash flow stalls, and operational sustainability is threatened. An efficient AR management process ensures that claims are followed up promptly, payments are collected faster, and denials are resolved before they escalate into bad debt.

At Right Medical Billing (RMB), we understand that AR aging isn’t just a report—it’s a reflection of how healthy your revenue cycle truly is. Let’s break down effective strategies for reducing AR aging across the 30-, 60-, and 90-day buckets, and how smart intervention can turn delayed reimbursements into consistent revenue.

Understanding AR Aging in Medical Billing

AR aging categorizes unpaid claims and patient balances by the length of time they’ve been outstanding—usually divided into 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, and over 90 days.

• 30-day bucket: Claims that are newly submitted or awaiting payer adjudication.

• 60-day bucket: Claims that may have received partial payments, denials, or are pending corrections.

• 90-day bucket: Claims that are highly aged, often at risk of non-payment due to payer deadlines or lack of follow-up.

The longer a claim sits in AR, the harder it becomes to collect. Effective AR aging reduction demands focused follow-up protocols, strong denial management, and proactive revenue cycle analytics.

1. 30-Day Bucket: The Foundation of Speed and Accuracy

The 30-day bucket represents your first line of defense. Most claims should ideally be paid within this period. Speed and accuracy in the early stage define the overall efficiency of the AR cycle.

Key Strategies:

• Clean Claim Submission: Ensure every claim is properly scrubbed before submission. RMB uses advanced claim scrubbing tools that detect coding and modifier errors in real-time to minimize rejections.

• Electronic Remittance & Posting: Use ERA/EFT for faster reconciliation and posting of payments. This reduces manual lag and allows billing teams to focus on exceptions instead of standard payments.

• Daily Claim Monitoring: Review clearinghouse rejections within 24 hours. Addressing them immediately keeps claims from rolling into older aging categories.

Outcome:
When the 30-day bucket is tightly managed, practices experience faster reimbursements, improved payer relationships, and fewer denials downstream.

2. 60-Day Bucket: Denial Recovery & Claim Rework Zone

The 60-day bucket often indicates claims that didn’t go through cleanly—either due to missing information, payer denials, or patient responsibility issues. At this stage, the goal is to identify, rework, and resubmit.

Key Strategies:

• Denial Root Cause Analysis: Use denial analytics to identify recurring issues like invalid patient data, missing prior authorizations, or coding mismatches.

• Dedicated Denial Resolution Teams: RMB assigns specialized denial resolution experts who work by payer and denial type, ensuring fast turnaround and high recovery rates.

• Appeals Automation: Implement automated workflows that flag claims nearing the 60-day mark for appeal submission. Time-sensitive appeals can often restore thousands in lost revenue.

• Patient Balance Follow-Up: Communicate proactively with patients on out-of-pocket balances, co-pays, or deductible amounts. Transparency drives faster payment and trust.

Outcome:
By tightening denial management and patient communication, you prevent claims from slipping into the critical 90-day zone.

3. 90-Day Bucket: High-Risk, High-Impact Recovery

When claims hit 90 days or more, they become increasingly difficult to collect. Many payers have strict timely filing limits, and aging claims are often written off. However, a structured recovery process can still yield significant returns.

Key Strategies:

• Segmentation by Payer and Claim Type: Categorize claims to understand where delays are happening—whether with commercial payers, Medicaid, or patient self-pay.

• High-Value Claim Prioritization: RMB focuses recovery on high-dollar claims and payers with shorter denial windows.

• Payer Escalation Channels: Engage with payer representatives directly for aged claims, leveraging established relationships to push escalations.

• AR Clean-Up Campaigns: Conduct quarterly AR clean-up projects where aged claims are audited, corrected, and reprocessed in bulk.

• Bad Debt Prevention: Collaborate with collection agencies or offer payment plans before accounts move to write-off status.

Outcome:
Even aged claims can yield revenue when handled strategically. With consistent follow-ups and analytics-driven prioritization, RMB has helped practices recover up to 40% of previously aged claims.

4. Automation & Predictive Analytics in AR Management

Modern AR management isn’t manual—it’s data-driven. Predictive analytics helps forecast which claims are likely to age, allowing billing teams to act before the delay happens.

Technology-Driven Enhancements:

• AI-based Claim Scoring: Predicts payment probability and flags claims needing early intervention.

• Automated Follow-Ups: Integrates with EHR systems to automatically alert billers about pending claim status updates.

• Payer-Specific Insights: Machine learning identifies which payers typically delay payments, enabling targeted escalation.

At RMB, predictive analytics isn’t just a buzzword—it’s a proactive tool that reduces AR aging cycles by up to 30%, boosting liquidity and reducing overhead.

5. Building a Culture of AR Accountability

AR reduction isn’t solely a technology or billing team function—it’s an organizational culture. Every stakeholder, from front-desk registration to coding staff, contributes to reducing AR days.

Cultural Best Practices:

• Accurate Front-End Data Capture: Ensures clean patient and insurance data from the start.

• Regular AR Audits: Monthly or quarterly audits help track trends and prevent recurring issues.

• Performance KPIs: Track Days in AR, Denial Rate, and Collection Effectiveness Index (CEI) to measure improvement.

• Staff Training: Equip staff with payer-specific updates and coding changes to reduce errors at every step.

Outcome:
When your practice fosters accountability across departments, AR performance improves holistically—fewer errors, faster payments, and sustainable revenue growth.

Final Takeaway

Reducing AR aging isn’t just about chasing old claims—it’s about building a proactive, predictive, and performance-driven revenue cycle.

At Right Medical Billing, our approach combines skilled denial experts, smart automation, and transparent communication to ensure every claim moves efficiently through the 30-, 60-, and 90-day cycle. By minimizing aging at every stage, we empower healthcare organizations to maintain healthy cash flow, reduce write-offs, and focus on what truly matters—patient care and practice growth.