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A picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is a medical imaging technology which provides economical storage and convenient access to images from multiple modalities (source machine types). Electronic images and reports are transmitted digitally via PACS; this eliminates the need to manually file, retrieve, or transport film jackets, the folders used to store and protect X-ray film. The universal format for PACS image storage and transfer is DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine). Non-image data, such as scanned documents, may be incorporated using consumer industry standard formats like PDF (Portable Document Format), once encapsulated in DICOM. A PACS consists of four major components: The imaging modalities such as X-ray plain film (PF), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a secured network for the transmission of patient information, workstations for interpreting and reviewing images, and archives for the storage and retrieval of images and reports. Combined with available and emerging web technology, PACS has the ability to deliver timely and efficient access to images, interpretations, and related data. PACS reduces the physical and time barriers associated with traditional film-based image retrieval, distribution, and display.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.

The ACA's major provisions came into force in 2014. By 2016, the uninsured share of the population had roughly halved, with estimates ranging from 20 to 24 million additional people covered. The law also enacted a host of delivery system reforms intended to constrain healthcare costs and improve quality. After it went into effect, increases in overall healthcare spending slowed, including premiums for employer-based insurance plans.

The increased coverage was due, roughly equally, to an expansion of Medicaid eligibility and to changes to individual insurance markets. Both received new spending, funded through a combination of new taxes and cuts to Medicare provider rates and Medicare Advantage. Several Congressional Budget Office reports said that overall these provisions reduced the budget deficit, that repealing ACA would increase the deficit, and that the law reduced income inequality by taxing primarily the top 1% to fund roughly $600 in benefits on average to families in the bottom 40% of the income distribution.

The act largely retained the existing structure of Medicare, Medicaid and the employer market, but individual markets were radically overhauled. Insurers were made to accept all applicants without charging based on preexisting conditions or demographic status (except age). To combat the resultant adverse selection, the act mandated that individuals buy insurance (or pay a fine/tax) and that insurers cover a list of "essential health benefits".

Before and after enactment the ACA faced strong political opposition, calls for repeal and legal challenges. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court ruled that states could choose not to participate in the law's Medicaid expansion, but upheld the law as a whole. The federal health insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, faced major technical problems at the beginning of its rollout in 2013. Polls initially found that a plurality of Americans opposed the act, although its individual provisions were generally more popular. By 2017, the law had majority support. President Donald Trump rescinded the federal tax penalty for violating the individual mandate through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, starting in 2019. This raised questions about whether the ACA was still constitutional. In June 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the ACA for the third time in California v. Texas.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than 250 Regional offices throughout the United States. Its global headquarters is located in the American Cancer Society Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The ACS publishes the journals Cancer, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians and Cancer Cytopathology.

INFO: Full form for ASO is Administrative Services Only Contract in Healthcare category
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Case mix index (CMI) is a relative value assigned to a diagnosis-related group of patients in a medical care environment. The CMI value is used in determining the allocation of resources to care for and/or treat the patients in the group.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the federal budget that became law in 2006.

An explanation of benefits (commonly referred to as an EOB form) is a statement sent by a health insurance company to covered individuals explaining what medical treatments and/or services were paid for on their behalf.

The EOB is commonly attached to a check or statement of electronic payment.

An EOB typically describes:

EOB documents are protected health information.

Electronic EOB documents are called edi 835 5010 files.

There will normally also be at least a brief explanation of any claims that were denied, along with a point to start an appeal.

A member with secondary insurance gives such information to the provider for the next bill to go out to that insurance company. Generally, secondary insurance pays only the amount the EOB says the member is responsible for. Secondary EOBs show if the patient still has any responsibility to the provider. After the member's insurances have processed the claim, the provider bills the member for the remaining balance, if any.

INFO: Full form for EOC is Episode of Care in Healthcare category
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INFO: Full form for FFS is Fee for Service in Healthcare category
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In the United States, a flexible spending account (FSA), also known as a flexible spending arrangement, is one of a number of tax-advantaged financial accounts, resulting in payroll tax savings. One significant disadvantage to using an FSA is that funds not used by the end of the plan year are forfeited to the employer, known as the "use it or lose it" rule. Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act however a plan may permit an employee to carry over up to $550 into the following year without losing the funds but this does not apply to all plans and some plans may have lower limits.

The most common type of flexible spending account, the medical expense FSA (also medical FSA or health FSA), is similar to a health savings account (HSA) or a health reimbursement account (HRA). However, while HSAs and HRAs are almost exclusively used as components of a consumer-driven health care plan, medical FSAs are commonly offered with more traditional health plans as well. In addition, funds in an HSA are not lost when the plan year is over, unlike funds in an FSA. Paper forms or an FSA debit card may be used to access the account funds.

INFO: Full form for HHR is Health Human Resources (or Health Workforce) in Healthcare category
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INFO: Full form for HPCI is Health Policy Corporation of Iowa in Healthcare category
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The Incident Command System (ICS) is a standardized approach to the command, control, and coordination of emergency response providing a common hierarchy within which responders from multiple agencies can be effective.

ICS was initially developed to address problems of inter-agency responses to wildfires in California and Arizona but is now a component of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in the US, where it has evolved into use in all-hazards situations, ranging from active shootings to hazmat scenes. In addition, ICS has acted as a pattern for similar approaches internationally.

INFO: Full form for LOS is Length of Stay in Healthcare category
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The Major Diagnostic Categories (MDC) are formed by dividing all possible principal diagnoses (from ICD-9-CM) into 25 mutually exclusive diagnosis areas. MDC codes, like diagnosis-related group (DRG) codes, are primarily a claims and administrative data element unique to the United States medical care reimbursement system. DRG codes also are mapped, or grouped, into MDC codes.

The diagnoses in each MDC correspond to a single organ system or cause and, in general, are associated with a particular medical specialty. MDC 1 to MDC 23 are grouped according to principal diagnoses. Patients are assigned to MDC 24 (Multiple Significant Trauma) with at least two significant trauma diagnosis codes (either as principal or secondaries) from different body site categories. Patients assigned to MDC 25 (HIV Infections) must have a principal diagnosis of an HIV Infection or a principal diagnosis of a significant HIV related condition and a secondary diagnosis of an HIV Infection.

MDC 0, unlike the others, can be reached from a number of diagnosis/procedure situations, all related to transplants. This is due to the expense involved for the transplants so designated and because these transplants can be needed for a number of reasons which do not all come from one diagnosis domain. DRGs which reach MDC 0 are assigned to the MDC for the principal diagnosis instead of to the MDC associated with the designated DRG.