A broad-scale initiative enabling consumers to compare the quality and price of health care services, so they can make informed choices among providers and facilities.

Those inpatient and outpatient facilities owned, staffed, and managed by the Military Departments.

A contract peer review organization that monitors the quality of MHS-delivered care and serves the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (OASD(HA)) as the external peer reviewer for medical necessity determination appeals.

An appeal that has been elevated to the external chain of responsibility at the national quality monitoring contractor (NQMC) and  Defense Health Agency (DHA) levels, to provide an independent review. An external appeal may be exercised when the internal appeal process does not provide a resolution for the beneficiary.

The DOD-managed health care program for active duty military, active duty service families, retirees and their families, and other beneficiaries.

A person eligible for health care services under Chapters 47 and 55 of title 10, United States Code

A sick, injured, wounded, or other person requiring medical or dental care or treatment.

The program established pursuant to Sections 1074(c), 2559, and chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code to create by regulation, an eligibility for health care services in MTFs as well as dental treatment facilities for individuals who have no such eligibility pursuant to Sections 1074(c), 2559, and chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code.

A coordinated and operational system of Federal department or agency-sponsored laboratory networks that provide timely, high quality, and interpretable results for early detection and effective consequence management of acts of terrorism and other events requiring an integrated laboratory response.

A diverse national and international laboratory network of local, State, and Federal public health, hospital-based, food testing, veterinary and environmental testing laboratories that provide rapid detection assays and laboratory diagnostics and the capacity to respond to biological and chemical terrorism and other public health emergencies. The LRN is a...

A group composed of one senior policy member from each Federal department or agency participating in the ICLN. The JLC provides advice to senior Federal government officials with the objective of ensuring that the appropriate strategy and funding are in place for effective laboratory testing for detection and response to health and national security emerg...

The NCG is under the direction of the JLC and is a group composed of senior technical and program representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, DOD, Department of Justice, Department of State, and each network represented in the ICLN. The NCG develops and proposes policies and procedures and helps carry out the operations of the ICLN through a...

Naturally occurring – well characterized or emerging.

The processes by which living organisms obtain food and use it for growth, metabolism, and repair. Its stages include ingestion, digestion, absorption, transport, assimilation, and excretion. The science that deals with food and nourishment, including dietary guidelines, food composition, and the roles that various nutrients have in maintaining health.

Products voluntarily introduced into the body that are not defined strictly as food or dietary supplements. Examples include functional foods (any healthy food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients) and transdermal air- and sea-sickness and testosterone patches.