Where is the balance between appointment time and thoroughness?

Scheduling may look straightforward on paper, but managing appointment times within a full clinical load is far more complex. Beyond addressing a patient’s primary concern, clinicians are navigating quality measures, preventive screenings, EMR documentation, and operational pressures.

Patients arrive with multiple conditions and understandable expectations that they’ll all be addressed. Practices must meet satisfaction benchmarks and insurance-driven quality measures, while staff screen for social determinants, depression, fall risk, and close gaps in care. All of this unfolds within a time slot that often hasn’t really changed.

So what duration truly balances patient safety, thoroughness, and scheduling logistics? Clinicians on Healthcasts weighed on on their preferred allotments by appointment type, below.

How do you manage a packed schedule without falling behind? Log in or sign up to read the full post, leave a comment, and see the Consensus. 

Question of the week

 Comments

Key takeaways about structuring appointment length: 

• Flexibility over a fixed time slot
  Clinicians agree there’s no single “ideal” appointment length—15–20 minutes may work for simple follow-ups, but new, complex, or geriatric patients often require 30–60 minutes to ensure safety and thorough care.
  
• The visit doesn’t end when the patient leaves
  Documentation, insurance requirements, staff communication, and urgent interruptions often double the true time spent per patient, extending workdays and cutting into breaks.
  
• Systems must support sustainable care
  When scheduling expectations don’t match clinical complexity, burnout rises, making pre-visit planning, clear boundaries, and tools like AI documentation essential to protecting both patient care and clinician well-being.
  

Internal Medicine

"Most of the time, I can get away with 20 minute appointment for one or two issues. If I know that patient requires more time, I will increase the appointment duration. Try to work for an organization where you can have complex patient visits for a longer duratio. if your work tries to Squeeze too much out of you and causes you to burn out, it’s time to find a new job."

Family Practice

"In my private practice we schedule 20 minutes regular visit and 30 minutes annual wellness visit. It is tough keeping on schedule based on patient's expectations to meet multiple needs and insurance expectations to screen multiple areas. Then there is recording everything. To keep on schedule I have to do notes after the fact.

There is usually not enough time to complete the note, communicate with staff, and field urgent questions in between patients. I end up spending as much time finishing notes as I spent with the patient which adds time onto the end of the day and always working through lunch. It is a problem."

Internal Medicine

"Most complicated follow up visits will need 20-30 minutes, but some simple (1 problem) visits can be done in 15 minutes. New patients will need 45 minutes, up to 1 hour for more complicated visits. Ideally, geriatric patients would benefit from longer visits."

Family Practice

"Standard appointment 30 minutes, complex 40-60 minutes. Also at my rural health clinic, patients are often late and we see them up to 10 minutes late so it really comes to be a 20 minutes or 30-50 minutes."

Pediatrics

"A 20 minute visit is really 15 minutes, with 5 minutes for EMR. It is doable, if the patient has pre-populated forms, etc. Important that patient/family is aware that a 20 minute visit includes the nurse's onboarding, and my EMR time, so that they are not  . It is all a lot easier when you go DPC model."

 Family Practice

"If the patient can complete an online pre-appt problem description and be advised that this will be the primary reason for the appointment, then a 30 minute slot which allows more than enough time for the initial 5 minutes of greeting/small talk, 15-20 minutes for questioning, exam then final 10 minutes for closure, instructions, planning etc, provided that real-time documentation is available.

Otherwise, one has tacked on 10-15 minutes for documentation, etc. Ideally, an AI app should be used to document, complete Rx info, referral set-up or other time consuming dr chores. AI should be helpful in this previous cobweb of summarizing a patient encounter."

Internal Medicine

"Ideally 20 minutes for sick or follow up and 30-40 minutes for new or annual exam."

Family Practice

"I use 15 minute follow ups and 30 minutes for new patients, but I have colleagues that use 20 minutes for everyone."

Family Practice

"20 minute follow up and urgent visits. 40 minute hospital follow ups, physicals, and new patient visits."

Family Practice

"20 minutes for most patients. New patients would be much longer. I have to limit some patients as they have multiple complaints sometimes 10 to 15 written down. I try to see these patients at the end of the schedule as it’s not fair to patients who have scheduled appointments."

Do you time new patient visits and follow-ups differently? Share your approach and read all of the comments on the post on Healthcasts.