Prevent receipts that need to be released (on hold) from escalating

Summary:

Background:
Receipts currently in a "hold" status and need to be released are being escalated to the top of the hierarchy if none of the levels take any action. To prevent this, we updated the escalation configuration to have escalations stop just one level above the requestor.

Problem:
After making the configuration change, all new receipts issued are only escalating up one level when no action is taken, which is what we want. Though, all previously issued receipts PRIOR to making the escalation rule change ARE STILL escalating up hierarchy to the highest level.

Ask:
Is there a way to stop all issued receipts prior to the configuration change from escalating to the top of the hierarchy?