When I first started helping with the billing in my dad’s dental practice, I would open the aging report and immediately look for the biggest number.
It felt like the obvious place to start -- if one claim was worth several thousand dollars, getting it paid seemed like a better use of my time than working through a list of smaller balances.
So I would call the insurance company, wait on hold, resend documentation, and follow up again. Sometimes that was exactly what the claim needed; other times, however, I could spend hours on a claim without getting any closer to payment.
Meanwhile, several smaller claims might have been easily resolved with a corrected detail, a missing attachment, or a quick status call. That experience taught me a valuable lesson: The highest-value claim isn’t always the best claim to work first.
Pro tip: Prioritize the claims that are most likely to move.
Ashley Bond.
Large balances naturally get attention because the financial impact is obvious. However, an aging report rarely grows because of one difficult claim. It grows as smaller issues quietly accumulate, such as a rejection goes unnoticed, an attachment never reaches the payer, or a claim is marked for follow-up, but no one has a reliable way to make sure that follow-up actually happens.
Each balance may look manageable on its own, but together they can represent a meaningful amount of earned revenue. Instead of automatically beginning with the largest dollar amount, practices can often recover more by identifying claims with clear, actionable next steps. For example, a smaller claim that only needs a corrected subscriber ID may be paid quickly, a recent rejection may require immediate attention before it becomes an aging claim, or a balance nearing a timely filing deadline may need to move ahead of everything else.
The goal is to use the team’s limited time where it can create the most progress.
Every interaction should move the claim forward
A team can spend an entire day touching claims and working hard without ever meaningfully changing the aging report. Someone checks a portal, sees that a claim is still pending, writes a note, and moves on. A week later, another person repeats the same process. The claim has received attention, but it hasn’t moved.
Effective follow-up begins with a simple question: What specifically needs to happen next? The answer may be to:
- Send an attachment.
- Correct a claim.
- Improve the narrative.
- Prepare an appeal.
- Contact the clinical team for additional documentation.
- Set a follow-up date and assign clear ownership.
Good claim notes are also an important part of this process. They should tell the next person what happened, what was learned, and what action comes next, preventing duplicate work.
Look for patterns
An aging report can tell you far more than how much money remains unpaid. When claims are grouped by their next required action, patterns like repeated attachment issues, weak documentation, and clearinghouse rejections often become easier to see.
Those patterns point to opportunities for prevention. For example:
- If crown claims are repeatedly delayed because intraoral photos are missing, the solution may begin in the clinical workflow.
- If rejections sit unnoticed for several days, the practice may need a daily clearinghouse review.
- If appeals are difficult to complete, providers may need clearer documentation standards.
This is where insurance follow-up becomes more manageable. Each unresolved claim helps the practice improve the process for the next one.
Give hardworking teams a clearer system
We all know how hard dental teams are working. Between answering phones, helping patients, verifying benefits, and managing schedules, the tasks are seemingly never-ending.
Most dental teams are not struggling with insurance aging because they lack effort.
However, a consistent system gives the team a better way to decide what deserves attention first. It helps them protect filing deadlines, resolve easy wins, prioritize urgent issues, and schedule focused time for complex claims.
The next time you open your aging report, resist the urge to begin with the biggest number. Look for the claims that can move, the deadlines that need protection, and the issues affecting multiple balances.
That approach may feel less dramatic than landing one major payment, but over time, it can recover more revenue and create a much healthier aging report.
If you’re looking for additional guidance and resources:
- Watch: “Aging Is for Cheese, Not Claims.” This continuing education webinar offers practical ways to prioritize follow-up, strengthen documentation, manage denials and appeals, and build a more consistent insurance aging process.
- Download: Insurance Aging Checklists. These printable cheat sheets provide claim templates and follow-up scripts to reclaim lost revenue.
Ashley Bond is the co-founder and chief dental billing officer at Wisdom, a dental billing company. She previously founded Bond Dental Billing. Bond has a background deeply rooted in the dental industry. She worked alongside her father in his dental practice. Bond is passionate about helping dental practices thrive through innovative solutions and effective dental billing strategies.
The comments and observations expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the opinions of DrBicuspid.com, nor should they be construed as an endorsement or admonishment of any particular idea, vendor, or organization.
