Aging reports are a starting point, not a work plan. Two claims that are both 90 days old can have completely different recovery odds depending on payer, filing limits and denial reason.
Prioritize by risk of permanent loss
Claims approaching a payer's timely filing or appeal deadline should outrank slightly older claims with no deadline pressure. Value matters, but deadline exposure matters more, because that revenue becomes uncollectible rather than delayed.
- Deadline-sensitive claims first, regardless of bucket
- High-value claims with a clear resolution path second
- Low-value, high-effort claims batched and worked systematically
- Uncollectible claims documented and closed, not recycled
Track why AR built up
A clean-up project that does not report causes guarantees a second clean-up project later. Every worked bucket should produce a short list of upstream fixes.