42 U.S.C. § 299c–2 — Certain provisions with respect to development, collection, and dissemination of data

(a) Standards with respect to utility of data To make sure data collected by or for the Agency is useful, accurate, and complete enough, the Director must set standard methods for gathering it, taking into account other federal health data collection standards already in place, and the differences between types of health plans, delivery systems, providers, and provider arrangements. If these standards would affect how other Department of Health and Human Services programs are run — including Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP — or would affect health information covered by a standard set under Part C of title XI of the Social Security Act (the HIPAA standards), the Director can only recommend the standard to the Secretary for that program, rather than impose it directly. (b) Statistics and analyses The Director must take steps to make sure the statistics and analyses developed under this subchapter are high quality, timely, and thorough, and that the statistics themselves are specific, standardized, and properly analyzed and indexed — and must publish, make available, and share them as widely as practical. (c) Authority regarding certain requests If a public or private group asks, the Director may conduct or support research or analysis otherwise authorized under this subchapter, under an arrangement where that group pays the cost of the work. The Director can keep and use that payment until it's spent.