The 90-day AHCIP claim limit
90 days from the date of service (or hospital discharge), per AHCIP Bulletin Gen 123 in force since 31 March 2020 — a refusal on day eighty leaves ten days, not ninety — and Qlynic ages every open claim from day one, shows the age in days on the claim itself, and escalates it before the shoulder.
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The rule
"A claim for benefits is not payable if it is submitted more than 90 days after the date on which the health service was provided or the patient was discharged from the hospital." — Alberta Health, AHCIP Bulletin Gen 123, in force since 31 March 2020. It replaced a 180-day limit; guidance written before that date is wrong by a factor of two.
Three things clinics get wrong
- The clock starts at the service, not when you built the claim or invoiced.
- It does not restart. A claim refused on day eighty leaves ten days. The limit is measured against the original service date every time you resubmit.
- The exception route is not a plan. Alberta Health may consider extenuating circumstances case by case — disasters that destroy records, fraud, theft of records, claims refused by the Workers' Compensation Board. It is an exception process.
Five places a claim can stop
The encounter, building the claim, submission over H-Link, the assessment, and the correction and resubmission — and the ninety days keep running through every one of them. Most of the money disappears at the last step, when a refusal sits in a remittance file until month end.
What Qlynic does
Ages every open claim from the date of service, shows that age in days on the claim row rather than in a report, escalates it before the shoulder so no claim reaches day ninety without someone having been told twice, and translates every refusal into plain English the day it lands.
This is general information about how AHCIP claims are processed, sourced from Alberta Health — not billing, legal or accounting advice. Check the source before relying on it.
Where to look