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White Paper
A Practical Guide to AR Recovery for Old and Unpaid Medical Claims
For healthcare providers, old and unpaid medical claims can mean delayed reimbursement, additional billing work, and revenue that remains uncollected. Accounts receivable (AR) recovery starts with understanding why balances remain unpaid, how much is at risk, and what action each account requires.
This white paper explains why old AR piles up, what unworked balances cost, and which AR numbers practices should monitor. It then covers the most common reasons claims go unworked, how to segment and prioritize aged accounts, and how to conduct payer follow-up based on claim status and age.
You’ll learn how to work 30-, 60-, 90-, and 120+ day AR, handle older denials and appeals, distinguish recoverable balances from appropriate write-offs, and assign the right tools, ownership, and follow-up process to your team.
The guide concludes with a 30- to 90-day AR recovery framework and practical checklist that practices can use to organize aging AR and establish a repeatable recovery process.
Download the free white paper to learn how to review, prioritize, and work old medical claims before recoverable balances become harder to collect.
Download the Free White Paper
Download our free Research Paper and learn practical strategies to reduce claim denials, improve claim accuracy, and get paid faster.
The Cost of Letting Old Claims Sit: A Guide to Recovering Aged AR
Old accounts receivable is money you already earned. The visit happened, the note was written, and the claim went out. Somewhere between your office and the payer, the file stopped moving, and the balance has been quietly sitting on an aging report ever since.
Every practice carries some aged AR. The trouble starts when balances past 90 days build up faster than staff can work them, because newer claims always feel more urgent than old ones. That habit is costly: the longer a claim sits, the harder it becomes to collect.
What you see on this page is only a short preview. The full white paper goes much deeper, with a step-by-step framework your practice owners, office managers, and billing staff can start using this week.
Aged AR doesn't disappear on its own. It ages into a write-off.
The longer a claim sits unworked, the closer it drifts toward a forced write-off. The white paper shows you exactly how to sort your aging report, decide what's still worth chasing, and build a weekly habit around old AR instead of an annual scramble.
is where recoverable AR most often quietly turns into a write-off
beats a one-time call — old balances need organized, ongoing contact with the payer
should be the first filter for deciding which claim gets worked next
These are only the starting points. The full white paper explains what they mean for your aging report and what to do about them.
Key Takeaways
A few highlights from the guide. Each point below is covered in far more detail inside the white paper, with practical steps you can apply right away.
Aged AR is money you already earned. The visit happened, the note was written, the claim was filed — the payment just stalled somewhere in the process.
Newer claims always feel more urgent, so 90+ day balances get pushed aside until they age past the point of easy recovery.
Before fixing anything, know your own AR numbers — how much is aged, by payer, by provider, and by reason.
Sort your aging report by age and recoverability first, not just by dollar amount, to decide what gets worked next.
Old balances rarely get resolved with a single phone call. They need organized, repeated payer follow-up and a clear owner.
Not every old balance is a write-off. The guide shows how to tell a true write-off apart from a recoverable balance.
There Is Much More Inside the White Paper
This page only scratches the surface. The complete white paper walks you through every stage of working aged AR, from your first pull of the aging report to a repeatable 90-day routine, including:
Want Help Recovering Your Aged AR?
The white paper gives you the full playbook. MZ Medical Billing can help you apply it, work your aging report, and turn old balances back into collected revenue with our Accounts Receivable (AR) Recovery service.