§299a. General authorities and duties

(a) In general

In carrying out section 299(b) of this title, the Administrator shall conduct and support research, demonstration projects, evaluations, training, guideline development, and the dissemination of information, on health care services and on systems for the delivery of such services, including activities with respect to-

(1) the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of health care services;

(2) subject to subsection (d) ¹ of this section, the outcomes of health care services and procedures;

(3) clinical practice, including primary care and practice-oriented research;

(4) health care technologies, facilities, and equipment;

(5) health care costs, productivity, and market forces;

(6) health promotion and disease prevention;

(7) health statistics and epidemiology; and

(8) medical liability.

(b) Requirements with respect to rural areas and underserved populations

In carrying out subsection (a) of this section, the Administrator shall undertake and support research, demonstration projects, and evaluations with respect to-

(1) the delivery of health care services in rural areas (including frontier areas); and

(2) the health of low-income groups, minority groups, and the elderly.

(c) Health services training grants

The Administrator may provide training grants in the field of health services research related to activities authorized under subsection (a) of this section, to include pre- and post-doctoral fellowships and training programs, young investigator awards, and other programs and activities as appropriate.

(d) Multidisciplinary centers

The Administrator may provide financial assistance to public or nonprofit private entities for meeting the costs of planning and establishing new centers, and operating existing and new centers, for multidisciplinary health services research, demonstration projects, evaluations, training, policy analysis, and demonstrations respecting the matters referred to in subsection (a) of this section.

(e) Relation to certain authorities regarding social security

Activities authorized in this section may include, and shall be appropriately coordinated with, experiments, demonstration projects, and other related activities authorized by the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.] and the Social Security Amendments of 1967. Activities under subsection (a)(2) of this section that affect the programs under titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq., 1396 et seq.] shall be carried out consistent with section 1142 of such Act [42 U.S.C. 1320b–12].

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title IX, §902, as added Dec. 19, 1989, Pub. L. 101–239, title VI, §6103(a), 103 Stat. 2189 ; amended Nov. 28, 1990, Pub. L. 101–639, §3(d), 104 Stat. 4603 ; Oct. 13, 1992, Pub. L. 102–410, §2(b), 106 Stat. 2094 .)

References in Text

Subsection (d) of this section, referred to in subsec. (a)(2), was redesignated subsection (e) by Pub. L. 102–410, §2(b)(1), Oct. 13, 1992, 106 Stat. 2094 .

The Social Security Act, referred to in subsec. (e), is act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620 , as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 7 (§301 et seq.) of this title. Titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act are classified generally to subchapters XVIII (§1395 et seq.) and XIX (§1396 et seq.) of chapter 7 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1305 of this title and Tables.

The Social Security Amendments of 1967, referred to in subsec. (e), is Pub. L. 90–248, Jan. 2, 1968, 81 Stat. 821 , as amended. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title of 1968 Amendment note set out under section 1305 of this title and Tables.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 299a, act July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title IX, §901, as added Oct. 6, 1965, Pub. L. 89–239, §2, 79 Stat. 926 ; amended Oct. 15, 1968, Pub. L. 90–574, title I, §§101, 102, 107, 82 Stat. 1005 , 1006; June 30, 1970, Pub. L. 91–296, title IV, §401(b)(1)(F), 84 Stat. 352 ; Oct. 30, 1970, Pub. L. 91–515, title I, §103, 84 Stat. 1298 ; June 18, 1973, Pub. L. 93–45, title I, §110, 87 Stat. 93 , authorized appropriations for grants and contracts to carry out purposes of this subchapter and set forth extent of and limitations on grants, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 99–117, §12(d), Oct. 7, 1985, 99 Stat. 495 .

A prior section 902 of act July 1, 1944, was classified to section 299b of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 99–117.

Amendments

1992-Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 102–410 added subsec. (c) and redesignated former subsecs. (c) and (d) as (d) and (e), respectively.

1990-Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 101–639 substituted "subsection (a)" for "subsection (b)".

Reducing Administrative Health Care Costs

Pub. L. 103–43, title XIX, §1909, June 10, 1993, 107 Stat. 205 , provided that: "The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and, to the extent possible, in consultation with the Health Care Financing Administration, may fund research to develop a text-based standardized billing process, through the utilization of text-based information retrieval and natural language processing techniques applied to automatic coding and analysis of textual patient discharge summaries and other text-based electronic medical records, within a parallel general purpose (shared memory) high performance computing environment. The Secretary shall determine whether such a standardized approach to medical billing, through the utilization of the text-based hospital discharge summary as well as electronic patient records can reduce the administrative billing costs of health care delivery."

Section Referred to in Other Sections

This section is referred to in sections 299b–2, 299b–3 of this title.

¹ See References in Text note below.