Time management is the essence of a effectively managed office schedule. Measuring of the time required for various processes is the first step. A typical office scheduling program will designate a proscibed interval for a new patient visit and for a return visit. One trap this practice creates is that a new patient may have a problem which can be dispatched in short order and an established patient may have a litany of complaints or may be coming in at a time when a discussion at length is required as an important decision point has been reached in their treatment course. As a result the schedule which alots time according to new or established may bear little correlation to the time expended.