42 U.S.C. § 242m — General provisions respecting effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of health services

This section lays out general rules for health services research, evaluation, and demonstration activities under this part. (a) Reports to Congress and President; preparation; review by Office of Management and Budget. (1) By March 15 each year, the Secretary must send the President and Congress: (A) a report on health care costs and financing, including data collected under section 242k(b)(1)(G); (B) a report on health resources, by geographic area, from data under section 242k(b)(1)(E); (C) a report on how health resources are used, by age, sex, income, and area, from data under section 242k(b)(1)(F); and (D) a report on the nation's health, by age, sex, income, and area, from data under section 242k(b)(1)(A). (2) These reports are prepared through the National Center for Health Statistics. (3) OMB may review any of these reports before they go to Congress, but cannot rewrite them or delay their submission past the deadline; OMB may send Congress its own comments on them. (b) Grants or contracts; applications, submittal; application peer review group, findings and recommendations; necessity of favorable recommendation; appointments. (1) No grant or contract can be made under sections 242b, 242k, or 242l unless an application is submitted in the form the Secretary requires and a peer review group recommends approving it. (2) (A) Any application for a grant or contract over $50,000 in direct costs under section 242k, for a health services research/evaluation/demonstration project, or for a grant under section 242k(m), must go to a peer review group that evaluates its technical and scientific merit. The Director of the National Center for Health Statistics must set up these peer review groups as needed. (B) A peer review group must report its findings and recommendations to the Secretary (through that Director) in the required form; the Secretary cannot approve such an application without a favorable peer review recommendation. (C) The Secretary (through that Director) appoints peer reviewers who are not federal officers or employees and who have the right technical and scientific background — except that grants under section 242k(m) may include qualified federal officers or employees as reviewers. (c) Development and dissemination of statistics. The Secretary must make sure statistics developed under sections 242b and 242k are high-quality, timely, complete, specific, standardized, and well analyzed and indexed, and must publish and share them as widely as practical. (d) Information; publication restrictions. If information collected under sections 242b, 242k, or 242l could identify a specific person or business, it cannot be used for any purpose other than what it was collected for, unless that person or business consents. Likewise, identifiable information from health statistics or epidemiology work under section 242b or 242k cannot be published or released in another form unless the identified person or business consents. (e) Payment procedures; advances or reimbursement; installments; conditions; reductions. (1) Payments under grants or contracts made under sections 242b, 242k, or 242l can be made in advance or as reimbursement, in installments, and under conditions the Secretary sets as needed. (2) Amounts owed to a grant or contract recipient must be reduced by: (A) the fair market value of any equipment or supplies the Secretary gave them for the project; and (B) the pay, allowances, travel, and related costs of any government officer or employee the Secretary assigned to help with the project — but only if the recipient asked the Secretary to provide that equipment, supplies, or staff help. (f) Contracts without regard to section 3324 of title 31 and section 6101 of title 41. Contracts under section 242b or 242k can be made without following the usual advance-payment rule in section 3324 of title 31 or the competition rule in section 6101 of title 41.