Physicians added their voices in July to the intractable task of finding an informed solution to the Sustainable Growth Rate. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, hosted physician group representatives as part of a series of roundtables on Medicare payments. Previous roundtables featured former administrators of CMS and private payers.

On occasion, medicine resembles the game of golf, and not just because some doctors like to hit the course on Wednesdays. For instance, the secret of a successful patient-centered medical home (PCMH) may boil down to this: a lot of hard work and a few technology tricks.

In implementing the Patient Protection and ­Affordable Care Act (PPACA), there’s at least one provision that ­Congress possibly felt it couldn’t afford—or simply didn’t care enough about—to fully fund. The healthcare reform law, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, called for the establishment of coaching programs for physicians. Yet without much federal money, this program has flourished anyway at state and grassroots levels.

Today, many hospital organizations are teeming with teams, forming physician groups to make decisions about bringing in new doctors, provide clinical care, and make recommendations about administrative planning. As various health systems put physician teams together, the organizations often abandon old models. They are looking to forge relationships bound by teamwork, ­cohesiveness, and coordination as never before. They also want team members who appreciate the fact that a hospital must operate as a business.

The 2012 Review of Physician ­Recruiting Incentives from Merritt Hawkins found that recruiting doctors into solo practice “has almost entirely abated.” Healthcare reform is demanding efficiencies of scale that solo or very small practices can't meet.