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As doctors increasingly adopt mobile devices, this much seems clear: At least for now, Apple is king. According to an April survey of U.S. physicians, sponsored by Aptilon Corporation, 61 percent of docs intend to own an iPhone by the end of 2011 - up sharply from 39 percent at the beginning of the year. Strikingly, that's more than double the iPhone's 24.7 percent adoption rate among American smartphone users at large.

Why did you start blogging and why do you think you have been so successfulI started blogging back in 2004. At that time there were less than 100 physicians blogs. I started blogging because I thought a blog was a great way to provide commentary from the physician perspective that is often lacking in news reporting today. It was after two or three years of constantly doing it that I realized it had become a powerful media to connect patients and doctors.

Physicians started to cautiously enter the social media space beginning around 2005 - most blogging anonymously - but today doctors are beginning to embrace the technology as a way to make a difference in patient education. Healthcare IT News spoke to six physicians who blog professionally and asked them questions on some hot topics around social media.

When it comes to using social media, fear of violating HIPAA rules is top of mind for physicians, but experts say if they can adhere to privacy regulations, the technology's benefits are far reaching. First, physicians should understand and know the rules concerning HIPAA, said Glen Gilmore, principal at Gilmore Business Network, a social media marketing firm, and an adjunct Instructor at Texas A&M University (NERRTC) and Rutgers University.

ALBUQUERQUE - The "HOPEmobile" is a 64-foot trailer outfitted with sophisticated telemedicine equipment that travels to underserved and remote areas of New Mexico, providing free, comprehensive health screenings for high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, pre-diabetes and other chronic conditions.

SOUTHINGTON, CT - The hours-long wait in the emergency department is the standard of almost any hospital horror story - for the hospital as well as the patient. It's frustrating for the patient who wants to be treated, and for the hospital administrator who wants to provide quality care and ensure a good rapport with the community.

NASHVILLE - Regional Health in South Dakota advocates standardized electronic charting system as a means to improve care coordination while reducing legal risks. The five-hospital group is the largest healthcare system in the Black Hills region of the state. In 2009, Regional Health got the green light to transform its paper charting system into a client/server electronic system uniting all the hospitals.

Blogging, tweeting, texting and facebooking have become routine for many physicians as well as many other healthcare professionals. In this issue, Associate Editor Molly Merrill talks to docs who connect with their patients, colleagues and the public via social media (Cover story and P. 23). She discovers, what she already knew, social platforms aren't just for idle banter.

Alan Dabbiere, co-founder and chairman of AirWatch, an Atlanta-based provider of smartphone and mobile device management solutions, is looking for one successful mobile health program to help change the course of healthcare.He thinks a $100,000 donation to Virginia's Inova Health System may move that effort along."We want to see one real successful home run right here," said Dabbiere. "Once the healthcare industry understands the value of the smartphone, all of a sudden the value proposition changes dramatically."