Purpose
Understand what Accounts Receivable (A/R) is, how it's measured, why it's the heart of the dental business, and how your daily work impacts it.
Simple definition
A/R = Accounts Receivable = all money the clinic has ALREADY billed but not yet collected.
Sum of:
- Claims pending with insurance
- Patient balances (what patients owe)
- Completed procedures not yet billed
Why it matters so much
| Reality | Impact |
|---|---|
| 1 claim taking 90 days | 3 months to convert to cash |
| 10% of A/R with +90 days | High write-off risk due to filing limit |
| 30% of A/R with +120 days | Imminent cash flow crisis |
| 50% of A/R with +180 days | Business is losing money from bad management |
That's why BrandaCare exists: convert old A/R into cash for our client clinics.
The key metric — A/R Aging
A/R is split into buckets by age ("aging buckets"):
| Bucket | Age | Typical action |
|---|---|---|
| 0-30 days | Just billed | Wait for insurance response |
| 31-60 days | Becoming concerning | Follow-up: did insurance receive the claim? |
| 61-90 days | Urgent | Status check (276/277) + escalation |
| 91-120 days | Critical | Appeal + check filing limit |
| +120 days | Crisis | Urgent appeal + consider write-off |
Types of A/R in a dental clinic
1. Insurance A/R
What insurance companies owe the clinic. More predictable — insurance is obligated to pay if claim is correct.
Delay causes: Patient data errors, missing attachments, filing limit, correctable denial codes.
2. Patient A/R
What patients owe (deductibles, copays, coinsurance, non-covered services).
Delay causes: Lack of follow-up, patient not contacted, no pre-treatment estimate delivered.
The 4 daily Billing Jr actions to reduce A/R
1Post EOBs same day they arrive
Every unposted EOB makes a claim look "pending" when actually paid. Distorts A/R reading.
2Resolve 31-60 day claims first
Most profitable bucket: 99% resolve with simple follow-up (Stedi 276 status check + correction).
3Escalate non-trivial denials
If denial requires appeal (CO-50, CO-186) → escalate to Billing Expert. Don't sit on it.
4Contact patients +60 days
Patient A/R +60 days has 50% recovery if you call. At 120 days, 20%. Every day counts.
How BrandaCare measures A/R
We have a tech stack that automates auditing:
| Tool | Function |
|---|---|
audit.py | Audits pending claims via Stedi (276/277 status) weekly |
patient_ar_audit.py | Audits patients with balance via OD API |
auto_resubmit.py | Detects claims with correctable errors and resubmits automatically |
| Google Sheet | Business view of all pending claims per client + Action Plan |
Every Monday 6 AM (formerly — now manual) runs automated audits. Billing Jr works on the output.