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Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§284d Definitions

Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER III — NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part B — General Provisions Respecting National Research Institutes › § 284d

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines two research types used in this part. Health services research studies how health care is organized, paid for, and managed, and how that affects quality, cost, access, and results of care. It does not include studies that test whether services prevent, diagnose, or treat medical conditions. Clinical research is patient-focused work with people or human samples where researchers directly interact in clinics or hospitals to study disease causes, body function, outcomes, new technologies, treatments, or clinical trials.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §284d

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Health service research
For purposes of this subchapter, the term “health services research” means research endeavors that study the impact of the organization, financing and management of health services on the quality, cost, access to and outcomes of care. Such term does not include research on the efficacy of services to prevent, diagnose, or treat medical conditions.
(b)Clinical research
As used in this subchapter, the term “clinical research” means patient oriented clinical research conducted with human subjects, or research on the causes and consequences of disease in human populations involving material of human origin (such as tissue specimens and cognitive phenomena) for which an investigator or colleague directly interacts with human subjects in an outpatient or inpatient setting to clarify a problem in human physiology, pathophysiology or disease, or epidemiologic or behavioral studies, outcomes research or health services research, or developing new technologies, therapeutic interventions, or clinical trials.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2000—Pub. L. 106–505 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsec. (b). 1993—Pub. L. 103–43 inserted at end “Such term does not include research on the efficacy of services to prevent, diagnose, or treat medical conditions.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1992, with provision for programs providing financial assistance, see section 801(c), (d) of Pub. L. 102–321, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1992 Amendment note under section 236 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 284d

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110