How Often Should Accounts Receivable Be Reviewed?
A Practical Guide to Managing Dental Insurance Accounts Receivable
Accounts receivable (A/R) is one of the most important financial indicators of a dental practice. When insurance claims remain unpaid, balances continue to age, filing deadlines can approach, and revenue that should already be in the practice's bank account remains outstanding.
For that reason, dental insurance accounts receivable should be monitored consistently—not just when the practice needs additional cash flow.
A proactive A/R process allows dental teams to identify problems early, follow up on outstanding claims, correct issues before they become more difficult to resolve, and maintain a healthier cash flow.
How Often Should Dental A/R Be Reviewed?
For most dental practices, insurance A/R should be reviewed at least weekly, with more detailed aging analysis performed on a regular basis.
A strong A/R process might look like this:
Daily:
Address urgent claim issues, rejected claims, and insurance requests that require immediate attention.
Weekly:
Review outstanding insurance claims and prioritize claims that are approaching important aging or filing deadlines.
Monthly:
Perform a comprehensive review of the insurance A/R aging report to identify trends, recurring problems, and accounts requiring additional attention.
Quarterly:
Step back and evaluate the practice's overall revenue cycle performance, including aging trends, denial patterns, collection rates, and insurance reimbursement issues.
The exact schedule may vary depending on the size and volume of the practice, but waiting until the end of the month to look at A/R is generally not an effective strategy for managing outstanding insurance claims.
Why Weekly A/R Reviews Matter
The longer a claim remains unpaid, the more difficult it can become to determine what happened and what needs to be done.
A weekly review allows your team to identify:
Claims that have not been received by the insurance company
Claims that were rejected
Claims that were denied
Claims awaiting additional information
Claims requiring an appeal
Claims approaching timely filing deadlines
Incorrectly processed claims
Missing attachments or narratives
Coordination of Benefits issues
Claims that were paid incorrectly or underpaid
Early identification gives your team more time to resolve the issue.