Title 42 — The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73not60
§280e National Program of Cancer Registries
Title 42 › Chapter 6A— PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › Subchapter II— GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES › Part M— National Program of Cancer Registries › § 280e
Summary
The federal government, through the CDC, can give grants or make contracts to states or to state-approved academic or nonprofit groups to run statewide cancer registries. These registries must collect for each cancer case basic patient information, job history if available, administrative details like diagnosis date and source, tumor details such as site, stage, incidence and treatment, and any other data the CDC says are needed. They must cover all in‑situ and invasive cancers except basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers, and both malignant and benign brain-related tumors. Brain-related tumors are those in the brain and nearby central nervous system parts, like the meninges, spinal cord, cranial nerves, pituitary, and pineal glands. States or their designated groups must provide nonfederal support equal to at least 25% of program costs (or $1 for every $3 of federal funds). That support can be cash or in-kind but not federal money or federally subsidized services. The government will count only new state spending beyond what the state spent the previous year, and it can lower the required match if the state shows financial hardship. To get a grant, applicants must submit an approved plan, promise to use funds properly, keep good accounting, and follow peer review. They must set up the registry, meet standards for data quality and timeliness, publish yearly reports, have state laws or rules to ensure complete reporting and access to records, protect patient privacy while allowing approved research uses, allow studies using the data, and protect people who report cases from liability. This program must not replace or take over the National Cancer Institute’s SEER program; where both exist they must be coordinated and SEER’s leadership kept intact. For certain states involved in a related federal cancer study, the government may add grant conditions to help collect study data.
Full Legal Text
Title 42, §280e
The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)(1)The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, may make grants to States, or may make grants or enter into contracts with academic or nonprofit organizations designated by the State to operate the State’s cancer registry in lieu of making a grant directly to the State, to support the operation of population-based, statewide registries to collect, for each condition specified in paragraph (2)(A), data concerning—
(A)demographic information about each case of cancer;
(B)information on the industrial or occupational history of the individuals with the cancers, to the extent such information is available from the same record;
(C)administrative information, including date of diagnosis and source of information;
(D)pathological data characterizing the cancer, including the cancer site, stage of disease (pursuant to Staging Guide), incidence, and type of treatment; and
(E)other elements determined appropriate by the Secretary.
(2)(A)For purposes of paragraph (1), the conditions referred to in this paragraph are the following:
(i)Each form of in-situ and invasive cancer (with the exception of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin), including malignant brain-related tumors.
(ii)Benign brain-related tumors.
(B)For purposes of subparagraph (A):
(i)The term “brain-related tumor” means a listed primary tumor (whether malignant or benign) occurring in any of the following sites:
(I)The brain, meninges, spinal cord, cauda equina, a cranial nerve or nerves, or any other part of the central nervous system.
(II)The pituitary gland, pineal gland, or craniopharyngeal duct.
(ii)The term “listed”, with respect to a primary tumor, means a primary tumor that is listed in the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology (commonly referred to as the ICD–O).
(iii)The term “International Classification of Diseases for Oncology” means a classification system that includes topography (site) information and histology (cell type information) developed by the World Health Organization, in collaboration with international centers, to promote international comparability in the collection, classification, processing, and presentation of cancer statistics. The ICD–O system is a supplement to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (commonly known as the ICD) and is the standard coding system used by cancer registries worldwide. Such term includes any modification made to such system for purposes of the United States. Such term further includes any published classification system that is internationally recognized as a successor to the classification system referred to in the first sentence of this clause.
(C)References in this section to cancer registries shall be considered to be references to registries described in this subsection.
(b)(1)The Secretary may make a grant under subsection (a) only if the State, or the academic or nonprofit private organization designated by the State to operate the cancer registry of the State, involved agrees, with respect to the costs of the program, to make available (directly or through donations from public or private entities) non-Federal contributions toward such costs in an amount that is not less than 25 percent of such costs or $1 for every $3 of Federal funds provided in the grant.
(2)(A)Non-Federal contributions required in paragraph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or services. Amounts provided by the Federal Government, or services assisted or subsidized to any significant extent by the Federal Government, may not be included in determining the amount of such non-Federal contributions.
(B)With respect to a State in which the purpose described in subsection (a) is to be carried out, the Secretary, in making a determination of the amount of non-Federal contributions provided under paragraph (1), may include only such contributions as are in excess of the amount of such contributions made by the State toward the collection of data on cancer for the fiscal year preceding the first year for which a grant under subsection (a) is made with respect to the State. The Secretary may decrease the amount of non-Federal contributions that otherwise would have been required by this subsection in those cases in which the State can demonstrate that decreasing such amount is appropriate because of financial hardship.
(c)(1)No grant shall be made by the Secretary under subsection (a) unless an application has been submitted to, and approved by, the Secretary. Such application shall be in such form, submitted in such a manner, and be accompanied by such information, as the Secretary may specify. No such application may be approved unless it contains assurances that the applicant will use the funds provided only for the purposes specified in the approved application and in accordance with the requirements of this section, that the application will establish such fiscal control and fund accounting procedures as may be necessary to assure proper disbursement and accounting of Federal funds paid to the applicant under subsection (a), and that the applicant will comply with the peer review requirements under section 289 and 289a of this title.
(2)Each applicant, prior to receiving Federal funds under subsection (a), shall provide assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that the applicant will—
(A)provide for the establishment of a registry in accordance with subsection (a);
(B)comply with appropriate standards of completeness, timeliness, and quality of population-based cancer registry data;
(C)provide for the annual publication of reports of cancer data under subsection (a); and
(D)provide for the authorization under State law of the statewide cancer registry, including promulgation of regulations providing—
(i)a means to assure complete reporting of cancer cases (as described in subsection (a)) to the statewide cancer registry by hospitals or other facilities providing screening, diagnostic or therapeutic services to patients with respect to cancer;
(ii)a means to assure the complete reporting of cancer cases (as defined in subsection (a)) to the statewide cancer registry by physicians, surgeons, and all other health care practitioners diagnosing or providing treatment for cancer patients, except for cases directly referred to or previously admitted to a hospital or other facility providing screening, diagnostic or therapeutic services to patients in that State and reported by those facilities;
(iii)a means for the statewide cancer registry to access all records of physicians and surgeons, hospitals, outpatient clinics, nursing homes, and all other facilities, individuals, or agencies providing such services to patients which would identify cases of cancer or would establish characteristics of the cancer, treatment of the cancer, or medical status of any identified patient;
(iv)for the reporting of cancer case data to the statewide cancer registry in such a format, with such data elements, and in accordance with such standards of quality timeliness and completeness, as may be established by the Secretary;
(v)for the protection of the confidentiality of all cancer case data reported to the statewide cancer registry, including a prohibition on disclosure to any person of information reported to the statewide cancer registry that identifies, or could lead to the identification of, an individual cancer patient, except for disclosure to other State cancer registries and local and State health officers;
(vi)for a means by which confidential case data may in accordance with State law be disclosed to cancer researchers for the purposes of cancer prevention, control and research;
(vii)for the authorization or the conduct, by the statewide cancer registry or other persons and organizations, of studies utilizing statewide cancer registry data, including studies of the sources and causes of cancer, evaluations of the cost, quality, efficacy, and appropriateness of diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, and preventative services and programs relating to cancer, and any other clinical, epidemiological, or other cancer research; and
(viii)for protection for individuals complying with the law, including provisions specifying that no person shall be held liable in any civil action with respect to a cancer case report provided to the statewide cancer registry, or with respect to access to cancer case information provided to the statewide cancer registry.
(d)(1)This section may not be construed to act as a replacement for or diminishment of the program carried out by the Director of the National Cancer Institute and designated by such Director as the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER).
(2)In areas where both such programs exist, the Secretary shall ensure that SEER support is not supplanted and that any additional activities are consistent with the guidelines provided for in subsection (c)(2)(C) and (D) and are appropriately coordinated with the existing SEER program.
(3)The Secretary may not transfer administration responsibility for such SEER program from such Director.
(4)To encourage the greatest possible efficiency and effectiveness of Federally supported efforts with respect to the activities described in this subsection, the Secretary shall take steps to assure the appropriate coordination of programs supported under this part with existing Federally supported cancer registry programs.
(e)In the case of a grant under subsection (a) to any State specified in subsection (b) of section 280e–3 of this title, the Secretary may establish such conditions regarding the receipt of the grant as the Secretary determines are necessary to facilitate the collection of data for the study carried out under such section.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2002—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 107–260 designated existing provisions as par. (1), inserted par. (1) heading, substituted “population-based, statewide registries to collect, for each condition specified in paragraph (2)(A), data” for “population-based, statewide cancer registries in order to collect, for each form of in-situ and invasive cancer (with the exception of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin), data”, redesignated former pars. (1) to (5) as subpars. (A) to (E) of par. (1), respectively, and added par. (2). 2000—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 106–310, § 502(2)(B), substituted “subsection (b) of section 280e–3 of this title” for “section 280e–3(b) of this title” and “such section” for “section 399C”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Change of Name
Centers for Disease Control changed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Pub. L. 102–531, title III, § 312, Oct. 27, 1992, 106 Stat. 3504.
Effective Date
of 2002 Amendment Pub. L. 107–260, § 2(b), Oct. 29, 2002, 116 Stat. 1744, provided that: “The
Amendments
made by subsection (a) [amending this section] apply to grants under section 399B of the Public Health Service Act [42 U.S.C. 280e] for fiscal year 2002 and subsequent fiscal years, except that, in the case of a State that received such a grant for fiscal year 2000, the Secretary of Health and Human Services may delay the applicability of such
Amendments
to the State for not more than 12 months if the Secretary determines that compliance with such
Amendments
requires the enactment of a statute by the State or the issuance of State
Regulations
.” Congressional Findings and Purpose Pub. L. 102–515, § 2, Oct. 24, 1992, 106 Stat. 3372, provided that: “(a) Findings.—Congress finds that—“(1) cancer control efforts, including prevention and early detection, are best addressed locally by State health departments that can identify unique needs; “(2) cancer control programs and existing statewide population-based cancer registries have identified cancer incidence and cancer mortality rates that indicate the burden of cancer for Americans is substantial and varies widely by geographic location and by ethnicity; “(3) statewide cancer incidence and cancer mortality data, can be used to identify cancer trends, patterns, and variation for directing cancer control intervention; “(4) the American Association of Central Cancer Registries (AACCR) cites that of the 50 States, approximately 38 have established cancer registries, many are not statewide and 10 have no cancer registry; and “(5) AACCR also cites that of the 50 States, 39 collect data on less than 100 percent of their population, and less than half have adequate resources for insuring minimum standards for quality and for completeness of case information. “(b) Purpose.—It is the purpose of this Act [enacting this part and provisions set out as a note under section 201 of this title] to establish a national program of cancer registries.”
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
42 U.S.C. § 280e
Title 42 — The Public Health and Welfare
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60