A/R follow-up is the work of chasing claims that have been submitted but haven't been paid, and haven't been denied either. They're sitting somewhere in the payer's process: unprocessed, pending additional information, or simply stalled without any response. Nothing forces action on a claim like that. That's exactly why it's one of the easiest ways for a practice to quietly lose revenue. Billed Right works every unpaid claim on a defined follow-up cadence so it gets a real determination before it ages past the point where it can be recovered.
Why Aging Claims Are the Silent Revenue Leak
A denied claim gets attention because the payer sends a notice and someone has to react. A claim that's simply unpaid doesn't create that same pressure. It just sits in the aging report, one line among hundreds, until enough time has passed that recovering it becomes unlikely. MGMA benchmarks generally recommend keeping A/R over 90 days under 20% of total outstanding A/R. Without a dedicated follow-up process, that share climbs steadily as claims that needed one phone call instead wait for someone to notice them.
The cost compounds the longer a claim sits. Missing-information requests go unanswered and the claim closes out. Appeal filing deadlines pass on claims that eventually do deny, taking away the option to fight for them at all. What would have been a routine status check at 30 days becomes an unrecoverable write-off at 120.
How Billed Right Handles A/R Follow-Up
- Every claim on the aging report is checked against a set day threshold, so nothing sits unworked because no one happened to look
- Payer portals and status calls used to get a real determination on claims stuck in processing, not just a repeat of "still pending"
- Missing-information requests resolved and resubmitted before the claim closes out for lack of response
- Appeal and filing deadlines tracked against claim age so a stalled claim is escalated before that window closes
- Claims that do deny are handed to our denial management team rather than continuing to be worked as if they were still pending
- Monthly A/R aging report by payer and age bucket so you can see the backlog actually shrinking, not just the total balance moving
Billed Right has worked insurance A/R follow-up since 2006, serving practices across the US from our base in Longwood, Florida.
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Top 5 A/R Follow-Up Problems We Solve
Claims Stuck in Payer Processing With No Status Check
No one calls, so the claim sits indefinitely with no determination and no path forward.
Appeal Deadlines Missed on Aging Claims
By the time a stalled claim finally denies, the window to appeal it has already closed.
Missing-Information Requests Go Unanswered
The payer asks for additional documentation, the request goes unnoticed, and the claim closes out.
No Defined Aging Threshold for Action
Without a set day count that triggers follow-up, claims age based on who happens to notice them.
Denied and Unpaid Claims Worked the Same Way
Treating a denial like a pending claim means it never reaches appeal before its own deadline lapses.
What to Expect
Aging Analysis
We review your current A/R aging buckets and flag claims already at risk.
Follow-Up Cadence
Every unpaid claim gets a payer status check at a defined day threshold.
Escalation
Stalled or pended claims are escalated with the payer and missing information resolved.
Deadline Tracking
Filing and appeal deadlines are tracked against claim age so nothing lapses unworked.
Reporting
Monthly A/R aging report by payer and age bucket shows the backlog moving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Denial management works claims the payer has already denied and appeals them. A/R follow-up works claims that haven't been denied at all: they're still sitting in payer processing, pending, or stalled without any determination. The goal is to get a decision before the claim ages past the point where it can be worked.
Every claim on the aging report is checked against a defined day threshold, typically 30 days from submission, and any claim without a payer response by that point gets a status call or portal check. It's not left to sit until someone happens to notice it.
We flag the request immediately, gather what's needed from your practice, and resubmit it, so the claim doesn't quietly close out for missing information that was never returned in time.
We track each payer's filing deadline against the claim's aging status, so a stalled claim gets escalated and, if it denies, handed to appeal before that window closes rather than lapsing into unrecoverable revenue.
We work aging claims across all major commercial and government payers your practice bills, using the same follow-up cadence and escalation process regardless of payer.
A monthly A/R aging report broken out by payer and age bucket, so you can see exactly how much is moving out of the 90-plus-day range instead of just watching a total balance shrink or grow.
More on A/R follow-up.
Why Unpaid Claims Are More Dangerous Than Denied Ones
A closer look at why claims sitting in payer processing without a denial or a follow-up call are the hardest A/R to recover.
ReadA/R Recovery Estimator Calculator
Estimate how much revenue is sitting in aging claims that haven't been worked in the last 30 days.
Get itHow a Multispecialty Group Cut A/R Over 90 Days Below MGMA Benchmarks
A composite look at how a structured follow-up cadence brought aged A/R back under control.
ReadReady to Stop Losing Revenue to Aging Claims?
Schedule a conversation with our A/R follow-up team. We will review your current aging report, identify where claims are stalling without a determination, and show you what we would do differently.