Who this is for: Billing staff and practice managers who monitor and work outstanding insurance balances.
Healthy AR benchmarks
Use these targets to gauge the health of your AR:
AR Bucket | Target |
0–30 days | 70%+ of outstanding balance |
31–60 days | 10–15%. Actively being worked. |
61–90 days | Below 10%. Trigger immediate follow-up. |
91–120 days | Below 5%. Escalate to supervisor. |
120+ days | Below 3%. Review for write-off or appeal eligibility. |
Days in AR (overall) | Target 45 days or less. |
AR follow-up workflow
Pull the insurance aging report from Billing → Reports → Insurance Aging Report. Filter by Pending and Approved statuses.
Work oldest buckets first. For any claim 60+ days with no payment, contact the payer directly.
For claims showing Paid in Barti but still appearing on the aging report: verify the invoice is fully zeroed out. If a balance remains, locate and post the missing payment.
For secondary claims: confirm the secondary was billed after the primary payment posted. If not, file it now.
Document all follow-up actions in the claim's internal notes.
Flag any accounts with unexplained credits or negative balances for review.
Using internal notes effectively
Consistent internal notes are the foundation of a clean audit trail. Use them as follows:
Note location | What to record |
Claim note | Rejection reasons, resubmission dates, follow-up actions taken |
Invoice note | Secondary claim status, patient credit explanations, retraction/reprocessing status |
Task | Action items requiring a response — COB filing, missing patient information, secondary claim assignment |
Important: Notes entered on an invoice are visible to staff at checkout. Use internal notes for billing team communication so patients do not see billing notes on their fee slips.
Troubleshooting
A claim shows Paid in Barti but it's still on my aging report.
The invoice likely has an outstanding balance that hasn't been zeroed out. Open the invoice and confirm the payment, write-off, and patient responsibility amounts are all correct. Post any missing payment or adjustment to clear the balance.
I have unexplained credits on several invoices.
Credits appear when a payment creates an overpayment — common causes include a write-off applied before a secondary paid, or a patient overpayment. Open each invoice, review the internal notes, and determine whether to apply the credit to a future visit, issue a refund, or hold pending a corrected claim. See How do I issue a refund to a patient in Barti?
My AR is heavily weighted toward the 61–90 day bucket.
This usually indicates a claims submission or follow-up workflow issue. Check whether claims are being filed within 24–48 hours of invoice creation, whether ERA enrollment is complete for all payers, and whether rejected claims are being worked promptly in TriZetto.