With the American Hospital Association reporting in late 2009 that 74% of hospital CEOs are being approached more frequently by physicians seeking employment, the recession coupled with healthcare reform is ushering in a rebirth of the 1980s physician employment boom—but this time around everyone is wiser. All providers—hospitals, physicians, and payers—recognize that they must work together to position themselves for bundled, performance-based payments for care delivery. Working together offers everyone involved the greatest amount of opportunities to succeed.

Has your physicians’ group adopted an open records policy that gives your patients full access to their personal medical information? If not, you’re not alone.

Physicians who are elbow deep in their hospitals’ electronic clinical data systems may finally be recognized for their efforts to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) is advocating for the creation of a board-certified subspecialty in clinical informatics, and the first exams may be available as early as 2012, according to “Clinical Informatics Board Certification: History, Current Status, and Predicted Impact on the Clinical Informatics Workforce” in the February 10 Applied Clinical Informatics.

Physicians who want to communicate more easily with their patients but aren’t ready to open up an IT business in their back office are turning to online solutions. Physicians at hospitals and private practices are using Web-based programs for a variety of tasks, such as conducting e-visits, e-prescribing medications, delivering lab results to patients, and sharing medical records with patients and their other providers—with no wiring, servers, or IT staff required. And in some regions, healthcare organizations are partnering with their biggest rivals to make it happen.