42 U.S.C. § 299a — General authorities

(a) In general To carry out the Agency's mission under section 299(b), the Director must conduct and support research, evaluations, and training; support demonstration projects, research networks, and multidisciplinary centers; provide technical help; and share information about health care and how it's delivered. This covers: (1) the quality, effectiveness, efficiency, appropriateness, and value of health care services; (2) measuring and improving quality; (3) the outcomes, cost, cost-effectiveness, and use of, and access to, health services; (4) clinical practice, including primary care and practice-based research; (5) health care technologies, facilities, and equipment; (6) health care costs, productivity, organization, and market forces; (7) health promotion and disease prevention, including preventive clinical services; (8) health statistics, surveys, databases, and epidemiology; and (9) medical liability. (b) Health services training grants (1) In general: The Director may give training grants in health services research tied to subsection (a), including pre- and post-doctoral fellowships, training programs, young-investigator awards, and similar programs. The Director must use money made available under section 288(d)(3), along with other appropriated funds, for this. (2) Requirements: When deciding how to prioritize training money, the Director must consider shortages of trained researchers working on health issues affecting the priority populations named in section 299(c)(1)(B), and must also weigh applicants' long-term commitment to serving those populations' health needs. (c) Multidisciplinary centers The Director may give financial help toward planning, starting, and running multidisciplinary centers for health services research, demonstration projects, evaluation, training, and policy analysis on the matters covered in subsection (a). (d) Relation to certain authorities regarding social security Activities under this section must be properly coordinated with experiments, demonstrations, and related work authorized under the Social Security Act and the Social Security Amendments of 1967. Activities under (a)(2) that affect Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP (titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI of the Social Security Act) must follow section 1142 of that Act. (e) Disclaimer The Agency cannot order national standards for clinical practice or health care quality. Any recommendations the Agency publishes from its funded projects must include a matching disclaimer saying so. (f) Rule of construction Nothing in this section means the Agency is supposed to set one mandatory national standard or approach for measuring and reporting quality. In its research and quality-improvement work, the Agency must consider a wide range of choices, providers, health delivery systems, and individual preferences.