Aging Report (A/R Aging)
An aging report breaks outstanding receivables into time buckets — 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, and 120+ days — by payer and by patient. Healthy practices keep the majority of A/R under 60 days; a swelling 90+ bucket is the classic early warning of collection problems.
- Buckets
- 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, 120+
- Healthy shape
- Majority of A/R under 60 days
- Red flag
- Growing 90+ bucket
- Run cadence
- Weekly for work queues, monthly for trend
What does an aging report show?
The aging report is your receivables sorted by how long they have been sitting. Every open balance lands in a bucket — 0–30, 31–60, 61–90, 91–120, 120+ days — and is grouped by payer and by patient responsibility. Where A/R days gives you one summary number, the aging report tells you where the money is stuck and who is sitting on it.
How do you read one?
Look at the shape before the totals. A healthy report is front-loaded: most dollars in 0–30, tapering fast. Example: a practice with $310,000 in A/R might show $170,000 (55%) at 0–30, $65,000 (21%) at 31–60, $34,000 (11%) at 61–90, and $41,000 (13%) over 90. That is a normal curve. If the same practice showed $95,000 (31%) over 90 days, roughly one dollar in three is at serious risk — old claims collect at steep discounts, and some are already past appeal windows.
Then read across the payer rows. If one payer's balances skew old while others are current, the problem is payer-specific: a credentialing lapse, a mass denial, or a payer that pends everything for records.
What does each bucket actually mean?
- 0–30: normal in-process claims. No action beyond confirming acceptance.
- 31–60: should mostly be paid already. Anything here deserves a claim status check — this is where pended and lost claims hide.
- 61–90: something is wrong. Denials being reworked, records requests, or claims nobody has touched.
- 91–120 and 120+: the danger zone. Appeal deadlines are burning down and some payers' timely filing limits for corrected claims are already gone. Balances here either get worked this week or become write-offs.
How should a billing team work the aging report?
- Sort by dollar value, oldest payer claims first — but check appeal and filing deadlines before deciding order. A $900 claim with 10 days left on appeal beats a $2,000 claim with 6 months of runway; the appeal deadline calculator makes this fast.
- Touch every insurance claim over 45 days. Call or check the portal, document the reference number, and set a follow-up date. When you call, ask the rep for the claim's received date — it proves timely filing if the claim goes missing later.
- Batch by problem, not by account. Twenty claims denied for the same reason get fixed as one project with one appeal letter template, not twenty separate touches.
- Report bucket percentages to leadership monthly. The 90+ percentage is the one number a practice owner should always know.
Frequently asked questions
Many revenue cycle consultants use under 15–20% of total A/R in the 90+ bucket as a working target, with best-run practices lower. More important than the exact cutoff is the trend: a 90+ bucket that grows two months in a row means denials or follow-up are slipping right now.
Date of service for insurance follow-up, because payer timely filing and appeal clocks run from the service or denial date, not from when your team posted the charge. Date-of-entry aging makes A/R look younger than the deadlines that govern it.
Because the fix is different. Old insurance A/R means claims need status checks, appeals, or resubmission by billers. Old patient A/R means statements, payment plans, or collections. A combined report hides which problem you actually have and who should be working it.
Sources & further reading
Reviewed by the ImmediCare Solutions RCM team
Certified billers and coders handling claims across 50+ specialties nationwide. This entry is reviewed against current payer policy and CMS rules. Last review: Jul 5, 2026.
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