"Hello, and welcome to today’s one minute management tip! My name is Tina Del  Buono. You know, often times in talking with practices, I will hear from doctors and office managers, and staff will tell me “there just doesn’t seem to be enough time and we’re constantly trying to catch up!”  
 
Well, you know what? I always say, one never knows how much time it takes unless one knows how much time is spent. I have a simple little answer… A kitchen timer! 
 
Now, if you belong to the virtual practice management institute, you can go into our module on efficient time flow and listen to the webinar and read the articles and tools that are there for you. If not, buy a little kitchen timer! And start timing your tasks 
 
You can make up a time log that tells the activity and how long it approximately takes to do it.  Then you will have answers to questions like: 
 
“How long does it take to schedule a new patient versus an existing patient?” 
 
“How long should an intake take on a new patient versus an existing patient?”
 
“How long does it take to verify benefits or do collection calls?” 
 
You’ll have estimates on how much time it actually does take, and then you’ll be able to schedule your day and you job tasks more efficiently so that your practice runs better! Well I hope this little tip will help you out, and if you have any questions, just let me know!