What is a Q3 A/R review?

A Q3 A/R review is a structured cleanup of your accounts receivable done before the fourth quarter. You pull your aging report, work recoverable claims by age and dollar value, appeal denials before deadlines close, and fix the errors causing the aging. The point is to enter Q4 with cash already moving instead of scrambling at year-end.

Why do a Q3 A/R review instead of waiting for year-end?

Timing is the whole point. Claims lose value fast after 90 days and are nearly uncollectible past 120. A Q3 review gives you a full quarter to appeal denials, hit filing deadlines, and correct front-end errors before year-end volume climbs.

What days-in-A/R benchmark should a practice aim for?

Aim for under 40 days, the HFMA target. MGMA better performers sit at 36 days and top performers stay under 30. Anything consistently above 50 days signals a structural problem in your follow-up, denial work, or clean-claim rate.

How much of my A/R should be over 90 days?

Keep it under 20% of total A/R, per MGMA. A healthy practice holds 50 to 65% of receivables in the 0 to 30 day bucket. If your over-90 column is bigger than one-fifth of the total, you have a concentration problem worth fixing before Q4.

What causes claims to age past 90 days?

Most aging traces to a few causes: denials that never get reworked, claims stuck in queues past filing deadlines, front-end eligibility errors, and credentialing gaps that block payment. About 65% of denied claims are never reworked, so denial backlog is often the biggest driver.

What’s the deadline to appeal a denied claim?

It depends on the payer and the denial type. Many commercial payers allow 90 to 180 days to appeal, while timely filing denials often have no appeal path at all. Medicare’s initial filing limit is 12 months from the date of service. Always check the specific payer contract.

Q3 A/R Review: The Pre-Q4 Checklist Every Practice Needs Before Year-End

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