42 U.S.C. § 17912 — Research and development programs

(a) Health Care Information Enterprise Integration Research Centers. (1) In general. The Director of NIST, working with the Director of the National Science Foundation and other relevant federal agencies, must set up a program giving assistance to colleges and universities (or groups of them, which may include nonprofits and federal labs) to build multidisciplinary Centers for Health Care Information Enterprise Integration. (2) Review; competition. Grants under this subsection must be awarded competitively, based on merit review. (3) Purpose. These Centers must: (A) develop new approaches to health care information enterprise integration by doing cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research on the systems challenges of delivering health care; and (B) develop and use health information technologies and other related fields. (4) Research areas may include: (A) interfaces between human and information/communications technology systems; (B) voice-recognition systems; (C) software that improves interoperability and connectivity among health information systems; (D) making software dependable in systems critical to health care delivery; (E) measuring how information technology affects health care quality and productivity; (F) managing health information enterprises; (G) health information technology security and integrity; and (H) health information technology relevant to reducing medical errors. (5) Applications. A college, university, or group of them seeking funding must apply to the Director of NIST, in the time, manner, and with the information the Director requires. At minimum, the application must describe: (A) the research projects the Center will do and each participant's role; (B) how the Center will foster active collaboration among scientists and engineers across disciplines like information technology, biology, management, and social sciences; (C) technology-transfer work to share the research results, technologies, and knowledge; and (D) how the Center will help educate and train researchers and other professionals in fields related to health information enterprise integration. (b) National information technology research and development program. The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program set up under section 5511 of title 15 must include federal research and development programs related to health information technology.