42 U.S.C. § 299b–4 — Research supporting primary care and access in underserved areas

(a) Preventive Services Task Force (1) Establishment and purpose. The Director must convene an independent Preventive Services Task Force made up of qualified experts. The Task Force reviews scientific evidence on how effective, appropriate, and cost-effective clinical preventive services are, then writes and updates recommendations for the health care community. These go into the Guide to Clinical Preventive Services, for use by primary care providers, health systems, professional groups, employers, community groups, nonprofits, Congress and other policymakers, public health agencies, quality organizations, and groups setting national health goals. The recommendations must consider best-practice advice from the Agency, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Institute of Medicine, specialty medical groups, patient groups, and scientific societies. (2) Duties. The Task Force must: (A) Develop new recommendation topics and related actions, including for specific subgroups and age groups. (B) At least once every 5 years, review interventions and update recommendations on existing topics, including better ways to measure health effects. (C) Better connect its work with federal health goals and target-setting. (D) Spread its recommendations more widely. (E) Give technical help to health workers, agencies, and organizations that ask for help using the Guide. (F) Send Congress and related agencies a yearly report on research gaps — such as preventive services with not enough evidence — and recommend priority areas needing more study, including populations and age groups current recommendations don't cover well. (3) Role of Agency. The Agency must give the Task Force ongoing administrative, research, and technical support — including spreading its recommendations, ensuring enough staff, and helping organizations that request help implementing the Guide. (4) Coordination with Community Preventive Services Task Force. The Task Force must coordinate with the Community Preventive Services Task Force and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including examining how their recommendations connect at the point where clinical care meets community programs. (5) Operation. When carrying out its duties under (2), the Task Force is not subject to the federal advisory committee rules in chapter 10 of title 5. (6) Independence. All Task Force members and their recommendations must be independent and, as much as possible, free from political pressure. (7) Authorization of appropriations. Congress may appropriate whatever funds are needed each year for the Task Force's work. (b) Primary care research (1) In general. The Agency has a Center for Primary Care Research that is the main funding source for primary care practice research within the Department of Health and Human Services. Primary care research here means the first contact when illness or health concerns arise, diagnosis, treatment or referral to specialists, preventive care, and the relationship between clinician and patient within the family and community. (2) Research. The Center must research: (A) The nature and features of primary care practice. (B) How commonly occurring clinical problems are managed. (C) How undifferentiated (not yet diagnosed) clinical problems are managed. (D) The continuity and coordination of health services.