§300u–1 Grants and contracts for research programs; authority of Secretary; review of applications; additional functions; periodic public survey

Summary

The Secretary can fund, run, and encourage research on health information, health promotion, preventive services, and teaching people how to use health care. Grant and contract applications must get peer review. The Secretary must give help to people who write or do research. The Secretary must find the best ways to share health information and change behavior, study environmental, work, social, and personal factors that affect health, and spot where education and prevention could help. The Secretary must make ways to measure the cost and effectiveness of health promotion and prevention, set payment methods and models or standards for how these activities are done, and assess how cost-effective and accurate medical services and tests are (including screening accuracy). Using those methods, the Secretary must evaluate preventive services—examples include blood pressure and cholesterol checks, smoking and substance-use programs, cancer screening, diet and diabetes education, eye-pressure checks, and stress management. The Secretary must also do regular surveys of the public’s needs, attitudes, knowledge, and behavior about health and use those results to guide policy.