Cash flow in a dental practice is rarely about production alone. It is about how quickly that production turns into deposits.
Accounts receivable (AR) days is one of the cleanest ways to see whether billing, insurance, and patient collections are working together or quietly slowing down your growth.
What “AR days” really measures (and why it matters)
AR days estimates how long it takes to collect what you have already produced. Lower is typically better because it means fewer dollars are stuck waiting on payers, patients, or internal follow up.
A simple way many teams think about it is: if you stopped seeing patients today, how many days would it take to collect what you are owed?
Even small improvements can change how a practice feels day to day. Payroll stress eases. Supply orders get simpler. You can plan staffing and expansion with more confidence because the bank balance tracks closer to the schedule.
Dental AR-day benchmarks you can actually use
Most dental practices aim to collect within 30 to 60 days of the date of service, with many advisors pointing to about 45 days as a healthy target for well managed insurance and patient AR.
Two related benchmarks help you avoid “average looks fine” problems:
- A/R ratio: total AR at or below one month of production (ratio ≤ 1.0).
- Over 90-day AR: keep it very small, often cited as under 5% of total AR.
Below is a practical scoreboard you can copy into your monthly review.
| Metric | Healthy target | Watch zone | Action trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average AR days | 30 to 45 days | 46 to 60 days | Over 60 days for 2+ months |
| A/R ratio (AR ÷ avg monthly production) | ≤ 1.0 | 1.01 to 1.25 | Over 1.25 |
| % of AR over 90 days | < 5% | 5% to 10% | Over 10% |
| Insurance “no response” claims | Minimal | Rising count | Any payer trend over 30 days |
| Patient balances older than 60 days | Low and shrinking | Flat month to month | Growing month to month |
Benchmarks are guardrails, not grades. A practice that is mostly fee for service can hit very low AR days. A practice with heavy PPO volume can still be healthy at 45 days if old balances stay under control and denials are handled quickly.
Why AR days rises in otherwise “busy” practices
High AR days is often a process problem that hides behind a full schedule. The common causes tend to cluster into a few buckets: slow claim submission, weak eligibility and estimate workflows, delayed posting, inconsistent follow up, and unclear patient financial expectations.
When you are trying to fix it, avoid starting with a giant overhaul. Start by identifying where time is being lost between four moments: date of service, claim sent, payer response, and patient statement paid.
Here are patterns that show up again and again:
- Missing or inconsistent eligibility checks
- Claims sent in batches instead of daily
- Narratives and attachments slowing down payment
- Payments not posted quickly, leaving balances unresolved
- Statements going out late or irregularly
- Team ownership that is unclear
And the fastest way to confirm the root cause is to look at aging by category, not just total AR: insurance AR vs patient AR, then payer-by-payer, then provider or location if you have more than one.
Tactics that reduce dental AR days without adding chaos
Lower AR days comes from shortening cycle time and reducing rework. That means doing more of the right work earlier, with fewer touches later.
The strongest improvements usually come from tightening the front end, then backing it up with disciplined follow up. In many practices, the “front end” is where the money is won or lost: verification, estimates, documentation, and same day claim release.
A practical set of tactics looks like this:
- Same-day claim submission: send eClaims daily, ideally the day of treatment
- Real-time eligibility and frequency checks: confirm coverage, waiting periods, remaining benefits, and limitations before the visit
- Clean attachments and narratives: standardize perio charting, radiographs, and narratives so payers get what they need the first time
- Fast posting to resolution: post ERAs and checks quickly so secondary claims and patient statements are not delayed
- Statement cadence that never slips: run statements on a predictable weekly schedule, not “when we get to it”
- Defined follow up timers: set internal rules for when to touch a claim or patient balance again
If you pick only two to start, choose daily claims and a weekly statement cadence. They reduce “time sitting” without requiring new technology or a new hire.
Tighten insurance AR by managing the claim like a pipeline
Insurance AR is often the biggest driver of AR days in PPO heavy practices. The goal is not just fewer denials. The goal is fewer claims that drift into “no one is sure what is happening” status.
A strong insurance pipeline has three disciplines:
- Prevent avoidable denials through eligibility, documentation, and correct coding.
- Detect problems early with worklists, payer dashboards, and timely aging reviews.
- Resolve quickly through corrections, appeals, and clear escalation paths.
A helpful internal standard is to treat 30 days as a “must explain” line for primary claims. If a claim is unpaid at 30 days, the next action should already be scheduled, not merely planned.
To build that discipline, many practices track a small set of insurance AR work queues:
- Newly filed, awaiting payer response
- Denied, needs correction and resubmission
- Paid incorrectly, needs appeal or reconsideration
- Pending documentation
- Secondary ready to submit after posting
This turns claim follow up into a repeatable routine instead of an urgent scramble at month end.
Patient AR drops when your financial process is clearer than your clinical process
Patients usually do not want a balance hanging around. What slows payment is confusion, friction, or surprise.
That is why the most effective patient AR strategy starts before treatment, not after. Confirm benefits, present an estimate that makes sense, collect the patient portion at the visit, then bill the remainder quickly after insurance posts.
One sentence that helps many teams stay consistent is: “We collect today’s estimated portion today, then we reconcile to your EOB.”
A few operational moves typically make the biggest difference:
- Written financial policy that is actually used at check in and check out
- Payment options that fit real life, including card on file and online payment links
- Statement layouts that show date of service, procedure, insurance paid, and what remains
- Short follow up cycles for small balances so they do not age into “hard collections”
If you are seeing high patient AR over 60 days, look closely at two things: how often statements go out, and whether balances are being created late because posting is delayed.
Use a weekly cadence and a short KPI set
AR days improves when someone owns it and the team sees it often enough to act early. Monthly reviews are too slow when the goal is to keep most balances under 45 days.
A simple operating rhythm many practices follow:
- Weekly AR huddle (15 to 30 minutes): review top aging buckets, payer delays, and stuck accounts
- Daily micro-work: release claims, post payments, work the oldest items in each queue
- Monthly scorecard: confirm AR days, A/R ratio, and over 90-day percent are trending the right way
It also helps to calculate AR days the same way every month so you can trust the trend. Many teams use:
- AR days = Total AR ÷ (Average daily production)
Average daily production is often monthly production divided by the number of workdays in that month.
Consistency matters more than perfection. You are trying to see direction and spot problems early.
Where technology reduces touches (and where it does not)
Technology can shorten AR days when it removes waiting and manual steps:
- Electronic claims and attachments remove mailing delays.
- ERA posting reduces time between payer payment and ledger resolution.
- Dashboards and worklists make follow up targeted instead of random.
- Online payment links reduce patient payment friction.
Technology does not fix unclear ownership, inconsistent documentation, or a statement cadence that slips. If the workflow is loose, software just helps you move faster in the wrong direction.
A smart approach is to map your current steps from checkout to zero balance, then identify where automation removes the most repeated touches.
When outsourcing AR follow up makes sense
Many practices reach a point where AR days stays high not because the team is not trying, but because the work is too specialized and too constant. Insurance rules change, payer portals are time intensive, and follow up requires steady repetition.
Outsourcing can help when:
- The front desk is split between phones, patient flow, and billing tasks
- Claims are going out late or inconsistently
- Denials and underpayments pile up because no one has dedicated time to work them
- Posting lags, delaying secondary claims and patient statements
- You need predictable billing coverage without adding headcount
EZDDS Billing supports dental practices by handling end to end billing operations, insurance processes, and AR follow up so providers can stay focused on patient care. A setup like this typically includes claim submission, insurance verification, payment posting support, and persistent follow up on unpaid or underpaid claims, paired with reporting that keeps aging visible.
Practices also tend to value business terms that reduce risk when making a change, including transparent pricing, scalable monthly plans, and flexible month to month arrangements.
If your goal is to reduce AR days quickly, the key is not a single magic tactic. It is running the same tight cycle every week, with clear ownership and fewer delays between each step that turns production into collected revenue.