The voluntary portion of Medicare, known as the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Program, that includes physician's services, home health care, medical services, outpatient hospital services, and laboratory, pathology, and radiology services. All persons entitled to Medicare Part A may enroll in Medicare Part B on a monthly premium basis.

A system wherein reimbursement rates are set, for a given period of time, prior to the circumstances giving rise to actual reimbursement claims.

A component of the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee and direct the Medicare and Medicaid programs and related Federal medical care quality control staffs. Name was changed effective June 14, 2001.

Facilities designed to serve patients who require surgical treatment exceeding the capabilities of usual physician's office yet not of such proportion as to require hospitalization.

Exploitation through misrepresentation of the facts or concealment of the purposes of the exploiter.

A listing of established professional service charges, for specified dental and medical procedures.

Referral by physicians to testing or treatment facilities in which they have financial interest. The practice is regulated by the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act of 1989.

Uniform method for health care providers and medical suppliers to report professional services, procedures, and supplies. It consists of alphanumeric codes and modifiers for the use of all public and private health insurers. It is developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

An Act prohibiting a health plan from establishing lifetime limits or annual limits on the dollar value of benefits for any participant or beneficiary after January 1, 2014. It permits a restricted annual limit for plan years beginning prior to January 1, 2014. It provides that a health plan shall not be prevented from placing annual or lifetime per-beneficiary limits on covered benefits. The Act sets up a competitive health insurance market.

Laws and regulations concerning hospitals, which are proposed for enactment or enacted by a legislative body.

Payment by a third-party payer in a sum equal to the amount expended by a health care provider or facility for health services rendered to an insured or program beneficiary. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988)

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XVIII-Health Insurance for the Aged, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, that provides health insurance benefits to persons over the age of 65 and others eligible for Social Security benefits. It consists of two separate but coordinated programs: hospital insurance (MEDICARE PART A) and supplementary medical insurance (MEDICARE PART B). (Hospital Administration Terminology, AHA, 2d ed and A Discursive Dictionary of Health Care, US House of Representatives, 1976)

Coded listings of physician or other professional services using units that indicate the relative value of the various services they perform. They take into account time, skill, and overhead cost required for each service, but generally do not consider the relative cost-effectiveness. Appropriate conversion factors can be used to translate the abstract units of the relative value scales into dollar fees for each service based on work expended, practice costs, and training costs.

Pricing statements presented by more than one party for the purpose of securing a contract.

The level of governmental organization and function below that of the national or country-wide government.

Laws concerned with manufacturing, dispensing, and marketing of drugs.

A method of examining and setting levels of payments.

The act or practice of literary composition, the occupation of writer, or producing or engaging in literary work as a profession.

A management function in which standards and guidelines are developed for the development, maintenance, and handling of forms and records.

Payments or services provided under stated circumstances under the terms of an insurance policy. In prepayment programs, benefits are the services the programs will provide at defined locations and to the extent needed.

Descriptive terms and identifying codes for reporting medical services and procedures performed by PHYSICIANS. It is produced by the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION and used in insurance claim reporting for MEDICARE; MEDICAID; and private health insurance programs (From CPT 2002).

Criteria to determine eligibility of patients for medical care programs and services.

A cabinet department in the Executive Branch of the United States Government concerned with administering those agencies and offices having programs pertaining to health and human services.

A family of gram-negative, moderately halophilic bacteria in the order Oceanospirillales. Members of the family have been isolated from temperate and Antarctic saline lakes, solar salt facilities, saline soils, and marine environments.

Economic aspects related to the management and operation of a hospital.

Control of drug and narcotic use by international agreement, or by institutional systems for handling prescribed drugs. This includes regulations concerned with the manufacturing, dispensing, approval (DRUG APPROVAL), and marketing of drugs.

Provisions of an insurance policy that require the insured to pay some portion of covered expenses. Several forms of sharing are in use, e.g., deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments. Cost sharing does not refer to or include amounts paid in premiums for the coverage. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XIX, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, administered by the states, that provides health care benefits to indigent and medically indigent persons.

An agency of the PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE concerned with the overall planning, promoting, and administering of programs pertaining to maintaining standards of quality of foods, drugs, therapeutic devices, etc.

The level of governmental organization and function at the national or country-wide level.

Remains, impressions, or traces of animals or plants of past geological times which have been preserved in the earth's crust.

Programs and activities sponsored or administered by local, state, or national governments.

Laws and regulations, pertaining to the field of medicine, proposed for enactment or enacted by a legislative body.

Hospitals located in a rural area.

Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions.

Public Law No: 111-5, enacted February 2009, makes supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 establishes a Medicare+Choice program under part C of Title XVIII, Section 4001, of the Social Security Act. Under this program, an eligible individual may elect to receive Medicare benefits through enrollment in a Medicare+Choice plan. Beneficiaries may choose to use private pay options, establish medical savings accounts, use managed care plans, or join provider-sponsored plans.

Contracts between an insurer and a subscriber or a group of subscribers whereby a specified set of health benefits is provided in return for a periodic premium.

A loose confederation of computer communication networks around the world. The networks that make up the Internet are connected through several backbone networks. The Internet grew out of the US Government ARPAnet project and was designed to facilitate information exchange.

Insurance providing for payment of services rendered by the pharmacist. Services include the preparation and distribution of medical products.

Systematic organization, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of specialized information, especially of a scientific or technical nature (From ALA Glossary of Library and Information Science, 1983). It often involves authenticating or validating information.

Individuals enrolled in a school of medicine or a formal educational program in medicine.

Generally refers to the amount of protection available and the kind of loss which would be paid for under an insurance contract with an insurer. (Slee & Slee, Health Care Terms, 2d ed)

An organization of insurers or reinsurers through which particular types of risk are shared or pooled. The risk of high loss by a particular insurance company is transferred to the group as a whole (the insurance pool) with premiums, losses, and expenses shared in agreed amounts.

Data processing largely performed by automatic means.

Laws and regulations concerned with industrial processing and marketing of foods.

Accountability and responsibility to another, enforceable by civil or criminal sanctions.

A mechanism of communication within a system in that the input signal generates an output response which returns to influence the continued activity or productivity of that system.

Professional nurses who have completed postgraduate training in the administration of anesthetics and who function under the responsibility of the operating surgeon.

Outside services provided to an institution under a formal financial agreement.

Activities involved in ensuring the safety of FOOD including avoidance of bacterial and other contamination.

Any materials used in providing care specifically in the hospital.

Attitudes of personnel toward their patients, other professionals, toward the medical care system, etc.

Compliance with a set of standards defined by non-governmental organizations. Certification is applied for by individuals on a voluntary basis and represents a professional status when achieved, e.g., certification for a medical specialty.

Using an INTERNET based personal journal which may consist of reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks.

Public Law 104-91 enacted in 1996, was designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the healthcare system, protect health insurance coverage for workers and their families, and to protect individual personal health information.

The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)

Review of claims by insurance companies to determine liability and amount of payment for various services. The review may also include determination of eligibility of the claimant or beneficiary or of the provider of the benefit; determination that the benefit is covered or not payable under another policy; or determination that the service was necessary and of reasonable cost and quality.

Government sponsored social insurance programs.

A genus of parasitic FUNGI in the family Nosematidae. Some species are pathogenic for invertebrates of economic importance while others are being researched for possible roles in controlling pest INSECTS. They are also pathogenic in humans.

Payment, or other means of making amends, for a wrong or injury.

Health insurance plans for employees, and generally including their dependents, usually on a cost-sharing basis with the employer paying a percentage of the premium.

The variety of all native living organisms and their various forms and interrelationships.

Organized services in a hospital which provide medical care on an outpatient basis.

A functional system which includes the organisms of a natural community together with their environment. (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)

The science or philosophy of law. Also, the application of the principles of law and justice to health and medicine.

Frequency and quality of negative emotions, e.g., anger or hostility, expressed by family members or significant others, that often lead to a high relapse rate, especially in schizophrenic patients. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 7th ed)

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

Automatic or hand operated equipment used to control and extinguish fires.

A phenethylamine that is an isomer of EPHEDRINE which has less central nervous system effects and usage is mainly for respiratory tract decongestion.

A stand-alone drug plan offered by insurers and other private companies to beneficiaries that receive their Medicare Part A and/or B benefits through the Original Medicare Plan. It includes Medicare Private Fee-for-Service Plans that do not offer prescription drug coverage and Medicare Cost Plans offering Medicare prescription drug coverage. The plan was enacted as the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 with coverage beginning January 1, 2006.

General name for two extinct orders of reptiles from the Mesozoic era: Saurischia and Ornithischia.

Application of marketing principles and techniques to maximize the use of health care resources.

Philosophic formulations which are basic to psychoanalysis. Some of the conceptual theories developed were of the libido, repression, regression, transference, id, ego, superego, Oedipus Complex, etc.

A constituent organization of the DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES concerned with protecting and improving the health of the nation.

The terms, expressions, designations, or symbols used in a particular science, discipline, or specialized subject area.

Any of various ruminant mammals of the order Bovidae. They include numerous species in Africa and the American pronghorn.

General agreement or collective opinion; the judgment arrived at by most of those concerned.

The capability to perform acceptably those duties directly related to patient care.

Woody, usually tall, perennial higher plants (Angiosperms, Gymnosperms, and some Pterophyta) having usually a main stem and numerous branches.

The natural satellite of the planet Earth. It includes the lunar cycles or phases, the lunar month, lunar landscapes, geography, and soil.

The principles of proper conduct concerning the rights and duties of the professional, relations with patients or consumers and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the professional and interpersonal relations with patient or consumer families. (From Stedman, 25th ed)

The exchange or transmission of ideas, attitudes, or beliefs between individuals or groups.

Customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a benefit or service received.

An enduring, learned predisposition to behave in a consistent way toward a given class of objects, or a persistent mental and/or neural state of readiness to react to a certain class of objects, not as they are but as they are conceived to be.

The act or practice of killing or allowing death from natural causes, for reasons of mercy, i.e., in order to release a person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death. (from Beauchamp and Walters, Contemporary Issues in Bioethics, 5th ed)

Individuals licensed to practice medicine.

An independent agency within the Executive Branch of the United States Government. It administers a national social insurance program whereby employees, employers, and the self-employed pay contributions into pooled trust funds. Part of the contributions go into a separate hospital insurance trust fund for workers at age 65 to provide help with medical expenses. Other programs include the supplemental social security income program for the aged, blind, and disabled and the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance Program. It became an independent agency March 31, 1995. It had previously been part of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, later the Department of Health and Human Services. (From United States Government Manual, 1994-95)

Time period from 1901 through 2000 of the common era.

Health care services provided to patients on an ambulatory basis, rather than by admission to a hospital or other health care facility. The services may be a part of a hospital, augmenting its inpatient services, or may be provided at a free-standing facility.

A mechanism of information stimulus and response that may control subsequent behavior, cognition, perception, or performance. (From APA Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed.)

The state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one's private life or affairs. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, 1993)

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

A publication issued at stated, more or less regular, intervals.

Innovation and improvement of the health care system by reappraisal, amendment of services, and removal of faults and abuses in providing and distributing health services to patients. It includes a re-alignment of health services and health insurance to maximum demographic elements (the unemployed, indigent, uninsured, elderly, inner cities, rural areas) with reference to coverage, hospitalization, pricing and cost containment, insurers' and employers' costs, pre-existing medical conditions, prescribed drugs, equipment, and services.

The degree to which the individual regards the health care service or product or the manner in which it is delivered by the provider as useful, effective, or beneficial.

The right of the patient or the patient's representative to make decisions with regard to the patient's dying.

Compositions written by hand, as one written before the invention or adoption of printing. A manuscript may also refer to a handwritten copy of an ancient author. A manuscript may be handwritten or typewritten as distinguished from a printed copy, especially the copy of a writer's work from which printed copies are made. (Webster, 3d ed)

Purchasers are provided information on the quality of health care, including patient outcomes and health status, with data on the dollar outlays going towards health. The focus is on managing the use of the health care system to reduce inappropriate care and to identify and reward the best-performing providers. (from http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/meyerrpt.htm accessed 11/25/2011)

A plan for collecting and utilizing data so that desired information can be obtained with sufficient precision or so that an hypothesis can be tested properly.

Administrative units of government responsible for policy making and management of governmental activities.

The period of medical education in a medical school. In the United States it follows the baccalaureate degree and precedes the granting of the M.D.

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

The guidelines and policy statements set forth by the editor(s) or editorial board of a publication.

Use of written, printed, or graphic materials upon or accompanying a drug container or wrapper. It includes contents, indications, effects, dosages, routes, methods, frequency and duration of administration, warnings, hazards, contraindications, side effects, precautions, and other relevant information.

The principles of professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of the physician, relations with patients and fellow practitioners, as well as actions of the physician in patient care and interpersonal relations with patient families.

Use of word stimulus to strengthen a response during learning.

The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea.

Increase, over a specific period of time, in the number of individuals living in a country or region.

The process of cumulative change over successive generations through which organisms acquire their distinguishing morphological and physiological characteristics.

Undergraduate education programs for second- , third- , and fourth-year students in health sciences in which the students receive clinical training and experience in teaching hospitals or affiliated health centers.

The educational process of instructing.

"The business or profession of the commercial production and issuance of literature" (Webster's 3d). It includes the publisher, publication processes, editing and editors. Production may be by conventional printing methods or by electronic publishing.

The attitude of a significant portion of a population toward any given proposition, based upon a measurable amount of factual evidence, and involving some degree of reflection, analysis, and reasoning.

Any type of research that employs nonnumeric information to explore individual or group characteristics, producing findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other quantitative means. (Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997)

A vehicle equipped for transporting patients in need of emergency care.

Principles applied to the analysis and explanation of psychological or behavioral phenomena.

A situation in which an individual might benefit personally from official or professional actions. It includes a conflict between a person's private interests and official responsibilities in a position of trust. The term is not restricted to government officials. The concept refers both to actual conflict of interest and the appearance or perception of conflict.

Processes or methods of reimbursement for services rendered or equipment.

The ceasing of existence of a species or taxonomic groups of organisms.

Tax-exempt trusts or custodial accounts established by individuals with financial institutions for saving money for future medical expenses.

Family of the suborder HAPLORHINI (Anthropoidea) comprising bipedal primate MAMMALS. It includes modern man (HOMO SAPIENS) and the great apes: gorillas (GORILLA GORILLA), chimpanzees (PAN PANISCUS and PAN TROGLODYTES), and orangutans (PONGO PYGMAEUS).

A method of data collection and a QUALITATIVE RESEARCH tool in which a small group of individuals are brought together and allowed to interact in a discussion of their opinions about topics, issues, or questions.

The privacy of information and its protection against unauthorized disclosure.

Mental activity, not predominantly perceptual, by which one apprehends some aspect of an object or situation based on past learning and experience.

A course of study offered by an educational institution.

Conceptual system developed by Freud and his followers in which unconscious motivations are considered to shape normal and abnormal personality development and behavior.

Human experimentation that is not intended to benefit the subjects on whom it is performed. Phase I drug studies (CLINICAL TRIALS, PHASE I AS TOPIC) and research involving healthy volunteers are examples of nontherapeutic human experimentation.

An approach of practicing medicine with the goal to improve and evaluate patient care. It requires the judicious integration of best research evidence with the patient's values to make decisions about medical care. This method is to help physicians make proper diagnosis, devise best testing plan, choose best treatment and methods of disease prevention, as well as develop guidelines for large groups of patients with the same disease. (from JAMA 296 (9), 2006)

The legal relation between an entity (individual, group, corporation, or-profit, secular, government) and an object. The object may be corporeal, such as equipment, or completely a creature of law, such as a patent; it may be movable, such as an animal, or immovable, such as a building.

A person's view of himself.

The use of COMPUTER COMMUNICATION NETWORKS to store and transmit medical PRESCRIPTIONS.

Programs in which participation is required.

Self-directing freedom and especially moral independence. An ethical principle holds that the autonomy of persons ought to be respected. (Bioethics Thesaurus)

Systems where the input data enter the computer directly from the point of origin (usually a terminal or workstation) and/or in which output data are transmitted directly to that terminal point of origin. (Sippl, Computer Dictionary, 4th ed)

The gaseous envelope surrounding a planet or similar body. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

Inorganic or organic salts and esters of arsenic acid.

Exercise of governmental authority to control conduct.

Media that facilitate transportability of pertinent information concerning patient's illness across varied providers and geographic locations. Some versions include direct linkages to online consumer health information that is relevant to the health conditions and treatments related to a specific patient.

The circulation or wide dispersal of information.

Programs in which participation is not required.

The biological science concerned with the life-supporting properties, functions, and processes of living organisms or their parts.

Restriction of freedom of movement of individuals who have been exposed to infectious or communicable disease in order to prevent its spread; a period of detention of vessels, vehicles, or travelers coming from infected or suspected places; and detention or isolation on account of suspected contagion. It includes government regulations on the detention of animals at frontiers or ports of entrance for the prevention of infectious disease, through a period of isolation before being allowed to enter a country. (From Dorland, 28th ed & Black's Veterinary Dictionary, 17th ed)

A sympathomimetic that acts mainly by causing release of NOREPINEPHRINE but also has direct agonist activity at some adrenergic receptors. It is most commonly used as a nasal vasoconstrictor and an appetite depressant.

A 1974 Federal act which preempts states' rights with regard to workers' pension benefits and employee benefits. It does not affect the benefits and rights of employees whose employer is self-insured. (From Slee & Slee, Health Care Reform Terms, 1993)

Publications printed and distributed daily, weekly, or at some other regular and usually short interval, containing news, articles of opinion (as editorials and letters), features, advertising, and announcements of current interest. (Webster's 3d ed)

Financial assistance to impoverished persons for the essentials of living through federal, state or local government programs.

Critical and exhaustive investigation or experimentation, having for its aim the discovery of new facts and their correct interpretation, the revision of accepted conclusions, theories, or laws in the light of newly discovered facts, or the practical application of such new or revised conclusions, theories, or laws. (Webster, 3d ed)

The state or quality of being kind, charitable, or beneficial. (from American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed). The ethical principle of BENEFICENCE requires producing net benefit over harm. (Bioethics Thesaurus)

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

Interactions and relationships between sisters and/or brothers. The concept also applies to animal studies.

Laboratory tests demonstrating the presence of physiologically significant substances in the blood, urine, tissue, and body fluids with application to the diagnosis or therapy of disease.

Recording of information on magnetic or punched paper tape.

Amounts charged to the patient as payer for health care services.

The philosophy or code pertaining to what is ideal in human character and conduct. Also, the field of study dealing with the principles of morality.

The interactions between physician and patient.

Interference with the FREEDOM or PERSONAL AUTONOMY of another person, with justifications referring to the promotion of the person's good or the prevention of harm to the person. (from Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 1995); more generally, not allowing a person to make decisions on his or her own behalf.

Use for general articles concerning medical education.

The evaluation by experts of the quality and pertinence of research or research proposals of other experts in the same field. Peer review is used by editors in deciding which submissions warrant publication, by granting agencies to determine which proposals should be funded, and by academic institutions in tenure decisions.

The capability to perform the duties of one's profession generally, or to perform a particular professional task, with skill of an acceptable quality.

Regulations to assure protection of property and equipment.

Directions or principles presenting current or future rules of policy for assisting health care practitioners in patient care decisions regarding diagnosis, therapy, or related clinical circumstances. The guidelines may be developed by government agencies at any level, institutions, professional societies, governing boards, or by the convening of expert panels. The guidelines form a basis for the evaluation of all aspects of health care and delivery.

Warm-blooded VERTEBRATES possessing FEATHERS and belonging to the class Aves.

The dimension of the physical universe which, at a given place, orders the sequence of events. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

The study of the patterns of ridges of the skin of the fingers, palms, toes, and soles.

The period of history before 500 of the common era.

Committees established to review interim data and efficacy outcomes in clinical trials. The findings of these committees are used in deciding whether a trial should be continued as designed, changed, or terminated. Government regulations regarding federally-funded research involving human subjects (the "Common Rule") require (45 CFR 46.111) that research ethics committees reviewing large-scale clinical trials monitor the data collected using a mechanism such as a data monitoring committee. FDA regulations (21 CFR 50.24) require that such committees be established to monitor studies conducted in emergency settings.

That segment of commercial enterprise devoted to the design, development, and manufacture of chemical products for use in the diagnosis and treatment of disease, disability, or other dysfunction, or to improve function.

The teaching staff and members of the administrative staff having academic rank in a medical school.

Persons who receive ambulatory care at an outpatient department or clinic without room and board being provided.

A phenethylamine found in EPHEDRA SINICA. PSEUDOEPHEDRINE is an isomer. It is an alpha- and beta-adrenergic agonist that may also enhance release of norepinephrine. It has been used for asthma, heart failure, rhinitis, and urinary incontinence, and for its central nervous system stimulatory effects in the treatment of narcolepsy and depression. It has become less extensively used with the advent of more selective agonists.

Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.

The intrinsic moral worth ascribed to a living being. (Bioethics Thesaurus)

Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era.

The procedures through which a group approaches, attacks, and solves a common problem.

Revealing of information, by oral or written communication.

The state or condition of being a human individual accorded moral and/or legal rights. Criteria to be used to determine this status are subject to debate, and range from the requirement of simply being a human organism to such requirements as that the individual be self-aware and capable of rational thought and moral agency.

The interaction of persons or groups of persons representing various nations in the pursuit of a common goal or interest.

A species of mussel in the genus MYTILUS, family MYTILIDAE, class BIVALVIA, known as the common mussel. It has a bluish-black shell and is highly edible.

Non-native organisms brought into a region, habitat, or ECOSYSTEM by human activity.

The psychological relations between the dentist and patient.

The interactions between the professional person and the family.

Research that involves the application of the natural sciences, especially biology and physiology, to medicine.

The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.

Restoration of human functions to the maximum degree possible in a person or persons suffering from disease or injury.

Medicines that can be sold legally without a DRUG PRESCRIPTION.

A medical specialty concerned with the provision of continuing, comprehensive primary health care for the entire family.

The levels of excellence which characterize the health service or health care provided based on accepted standards of quality.

Health care professionals, technicians, and assistants staffing LABORATORIES in research or health care facilities.

The concurrent or retrospective review by practicing physicians or other health professionals of the quality and efficiency of patient care practices or services ordered or performed by other physicians or other health professionals (From The Facts On File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988).

The field of medicine concerned with physical fitness and the diagnosis and treatment of injuries sustained in exercise and sports activities.

Educational programs for medical graduates entering a specialty. They include formal specialty training as well as academic work in the clinical and basic medical sciences, and may lead to board certification or an advanced medical degree.

Finely divided solid matter with particle sizes smaller than a micrometeorite, thus with diameters much smaller than a millimeter, moving in interplanetary space. (NASA Thesaurus, 1994)

Consideration and concern for others, as opposed to self-love or egoism, which can be a motivating influence.

The systematic arrangement of entities in any field into categories classes based on common characteristics such as properties, morphology, subject matter, etc.

The reciprocal interaction of two or more persons.

An iterative questionnaire designed to measure consensus among individual responses. In the classic Delphi approach, there is no interaction between responder and interviewer.