Consensus Development Program

A program of the National Institutes of Health to bring together an independent group of experts to review scientific evidence related to an important public health issue. For a specific issue, a panel of experts (such as doctors and scientists) reviews reports and papers on the subject, listens to information presented by other experts in the field, and hears comments from the general public. Based on the evidence presented, the panel writes a report summarizing the findings, which is made available to the public. The report is not intended to be a practice guideline.