The healthcare industry has undergone a sea of changes in recent years, leaving medical practitioners across the board scrambling to adhere to a wave of new regulations. To commemorate the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA), FierceHealthcare published a review of the bill and its impact on healthcare professionals thus far.

In addition to the individual mandate that requires all citizens to secure health insurance by 2014, the bill largely focuses on reducing medical expenses and improving the quality and efficiency of healthcare, with a focus on implementing infrastructure that supports population health.

In her reflection on the measure, FierceHealthcare Editor Alicia Caramenico notes that, for the most part, the general population remains unclear on the exact provisions of the bill and how it has impacted their health care, if at all. Medical professionals, meanwhile, have enjoyed "a mixed bag" in terms of results, but one medical center CEO in Ohio did note that the law pushed his clinic to focus more on collaboration and efficiency.

"While the healthcare landscape hasn't drastically changed since the Supreme Court's ruling, hospitals and providers have kicked implementation efforts into full gear. The ruling officially challenged hospitals to make population health a top priority," wrote Caramenico.

President Obama recently announced that one provision of the ACA — that requiring businesses to provide health insurance — will not take effect until 2015, and there are yet more aspects of the law that have yet to kick in.

In order to prepare for these adjustments, as well as other federal guidelines governing meaningful use, chiropractors must invest in high-quality chiropractic software programs that simplify this process. By implementing a chiropractic management system that adheres to the increasingly strict guidelines put in place by such reforms, professionals in this field can remain in compliance with the law while attending to the needs of their patients.