Old A/R Recovery Services

Old A/R recovery services

Old A/R recovery works the backlog of aged claims that your current process has stopped touching: balances past ninety or one hundred and twenty days, denials nobody appealed, claims from a previous biller or system.

We'll look at your aging by bucket and tell you what's worth working.

We sort what can still be recovered from what cannot, work the recoverable balances inside the deadlines that remain, and give you a clean, documented write-off for the rest.

This work starts once the claim has gone out. Buy it on its own or pair it with our other billing services, stage by stage.

Last reviewed November 3, 2026 by the Remitwright billing team. Editorial policy

What old A/R recovery covers

An aging report run inside your PM system by payer, age and reason, including claims still open in a previous PM system you keep access to

Each balance classified as recoverable, recoverable with appeal, patient responsibility, or unrecoverable with the reason

Timely filing and appeal deadlines checked per payer, so effort goes where the money can still move

Proof of timely filing gathered from clearinghouse reports to reopen claims payers say were late

Corrected claims, appeals and reconsiderations submitted in batches by payer

Secondary and tertiary balances billed where the primary paid but the secondary was never sent

Patient balances reviewed before any statement goes out, so nobody is billed for a payer's error

A final reconciliation of recovered, in progress, and written off with reason codes

What goes wrong when old A/R recovery is skipped

The transition that left the old A/R behind

The practice changed billing companies. The new one started on day one with new claims; the old one stopped on day one with the old. A large balance of open claims belonged to nobody. By the time anyone looked, the filing limits had passed.

The write-off that was really a recovery

A payer denies claims as untimely. The practice writes them off. The clearinghouse acceptance report shows every one was received on time. With the proof attached, the payer reprocesses them.

Working old A/R like new A/R

Someone starts at the top of the list and works down. The oldest claims, closest to their deadlines, are at the bottom. Old A/R has to be worked by deadline first, then by value.

How we run old A/R recovery

Inventory

Every open balance, every source system, with age, payer, last action and deadline.

Triage

Deadline-first sorting. Before the work starts, you get a written view of what is realistically recoverable, what is patient balance, and what is gone.

Work

Batches by payer and reason: proof of timely filing, corrected claims, appeals, secondary submissions.

Report

On the weekly report: dollars recovered, in process and closed, with the running list of write-offs for your sign-off.

Hand over

When the backlog is clean, the remaining open items move into normal A/R follow-up with their history intact.

What you receive every week

Recoverability assessment

The backlog sorted into recoverable, appealable, patient and unrecoverable, with dollars and reasons.

Weekly recovery report

Collected, in process and written off, by payer and age.

Documented write-off file

Every closed balance with its reason code, so your accountant and any future auditor can see why.

Worked example: the previous biller's queue

A hypothetical behavioral health group leaves its billing company with a large balance past one hundred and twenty days. The aging report shows a third is unrecoverable: filing limits passed with no proof, and the write-off is documented. A third is recoverable: payer pends that were never answered, secondary claims never billed. The last third is patient balances where the practice never sent a statement. The recoverable third is worked by deadline; the patient balances go out as clear statements with a payment plan offer.

Questions about old A/R recovery

How old is too old to recover?

It depends on each payer's timely filing and appeal limits, and on whether you have proof of filing. Medicare allows longer than most commercial plans and Medicaid managed care plans do. We check each balance against its own payer's limit rather than applying one cutoff.

How is old A/R work priced?

Pricing for old A/R projects is set after the recoverability assessment, when we both know what is realistic. The pricing page explains the models; the quote is written.

Can you work A/R in our old system?

Yes, with read-only access. If the old system is gone, we work from the exports and clearinghouse reports your practice still holds, opened in your own environment rather than copied to ours.

Will patients get surprise bills?

No. Every patient balance is reviewed first: was the primary billed correctly, was there a secondary, did the payer deny for a reason that is not the patient's. Only genuine balances go out, with a clear statement.

What happens after the backlog is cleared?

The open items move into regular A/R follow-up with their history, and the causes we found feed the prevention list so the backlog does not rebuild.

Can old A/R clean-up be outsourced as a one-off project?

Yes. Old A/R is quoted as its own project after a recoverability assessment, with its own line on the weekly report so recovered money is never mixed with current collections. When the backlog is cleared the project ends, and you decide whether current follow-up stays in-house or moves to a dedicated biller.