Supreme Court’s healthcare ruling set for June 28

The Supreme Court will make its final decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this Thursday.

The Supreme Court will make its final decision on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this Thursday.

A Supreme Court ruling set to come out this week will play a significant role in the healthcare industry in this country. Millions of people nationwide will be affected by the court's final decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, especially with regard to the individual mandate that requires all Americans to purchase health insurance.

At this point in time, the Supreme Court has set Thursday, June 28 as the day for announcing its final decision, according to Reuters. With the final ruling set to come out so soon, healthcare IT experts have begun to make predictions on which provisions will be kept and which may be found unconstitutional.

As for the accountable care organization (ACO), a program aimed at unifying patient care through the use of EHR software and other initiatives, acting administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Marilyn Tavenner spoke on June 7 predicting that the ACO will not be overturned by the Supreme Court. Currently, CMS plans on moving forward with all ACO implementations, according to Healthcare IT News.

In regards to the individual mandate, Eric Zimmerman, a healthcare attorney, told the news source that, "It's a very big deal for a lot of reasons. If the individual mandate and/or the Medicaid portions of the law are struck down, that is a violation of the deal, if you will, and all of a sudden hospitals and other service providers are providing these services, having absorbed the cuts without the expectation of the additional revenues."

If the ACO program is not affected by the Supreme Court's ruling as predicted by Tavenner, chiropractors seeking to take part in the program will need to purchase chiropractic EHR software from a trusted vendor.

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