42 U.S.C. § 290aa–4 — Center for behavioral health statistics and quality

(a) The Assistant Secretary must keep a Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality (the "Center") running inside the Administration. A Director, appointed by the Secretary, leads the Center. The Director must have deep experience and academic training in researching and analyzing behavioral health care or related fields. (b) Each year, the Director must: (1) Coordinate the Administration's overall data strategy. This includes collecting data every year on (A) how common the different forms of mental illness and substance abuse are nationwide, and (B) how common they are in major metropolitan areas the Director picks. (2) Give statistical and analytical support to the Administration's work. (3) Recommend a core set of measures to judge how well Administration-funded activities are working. (4) Work with the Assistant Secretary, the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, and the Chief Medical Officer appointed under section 290aa(g), as needed, to make Administration programs better and to evaluate the Administration's work. (c) For the mental health data required by subsection (b)(1), the Director must collect, at minimum, data on: (1) how many public and nonprofit private treatment programs exist and what kinds they are; (2) how many people use those programs and their demographic makeup; (3) what type of care those people receive; and (4) any other data that fits. (d)(1) For the substance abuse data required by subsection (b)(1), the Director must collect, at minimum, data on: (A) how many people are admitted to hospital emergency rooms because of alcohol or drug abuse; (B) how many people die from substance abuse, based on coroner reports coordinated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; (C) how many public and private nonprofit treatment programs exist, including how many patient slots they have; (D) how many people seek treatment, how many receive it and their demographics, what percent finish the program, and how long people wait between asking for treatment and starting it; (E) how many people come back for treatment after finishing an earlier round, and what method that earlier treatment used; (F) how many people get public assistance to pay for treatment; (G) how much different treatment methods cost, and the total relative cost of each method used within a state each fiscal year; (H) as far as the information is available, how many people getting alcohol or drug treatment have private insurance that covers it; (I) how much alcohol and drug abuse happens among high school students and the general population; and (J) how many alcohol and drug abuse counselors and other treatment staff work in public and private facilities. (2) The Director must run these surveys every year, and must make summaries and analyses of the data public. (e) After consulting with the states and appropriate national organizations, the Assistant Secretary must use existing standards and best practices — and the best available technology — to create uniform rules for collecting this data.