An organization assisted by a program initiated in 1970 by the National Center for Health Services Research and Development (now the NCHSR). The program, a forerunner of the PSRO program, was set up to help medical societies in creating formal organizations and procedures for reviewing the quality and use of medical care in hospitals, nursing homes, and offices throughout a defined community. The use of explicit criteria and standard definitions were required of all EMCROs but the particular approach to organizing the review was determined by the individual organization. Ten such organizations were initially supported (only some of which actually reviewed services) and the program was phased out after enactment of the PSRO program.