Legislative Authority

Attachment 1 - Legislative Mandate (Excerpts)
National Center for Health Statistics (42 USC 242K)
Sec. 306 [242k]
(a) There is established in the Department of Health and Services the National Center for Health
Statistics (hereinafter in this section referred to as the “Center” which shall be under the direction of a
Director who shall be appointed by the Secretary. The Secretary, acting through the Center, shall
conduct and support statistical and epidemiological activities for the purpose of improving the
effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of health services in the United States.
(b) In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary, acting through the Center--(1) shall collect statistics on--(A) the extent and nature of illness and disability of the population of the United States (or of any
groupings of the people included in the population), including life expectancy, the incidence of various
acute and chronic illnesses, and infant and maternal morbidity and mortality,
(B) the impact of illness and disability of the population on the economy on the economy of the United
States and on other aspects of the well-being of its population (or of such groupings),
(C) environmental , social, and other health hazards,
(D) determinants of health
(E) health resources, including physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health professionals by specialty
and type of practice and the supply of services by hospitals, extended care facilities, home health
agencies, and other health institutions,
(F) utilization of health care, including utilization of
(i) ambulatory health services by specialties, and
(ii) services of hospitals, extended care facilities, home health agencies, and other institutions,
(G) health care costs and financing, including the trends in health care prices and cost, the sources of
payments for health care services, and
(H) family formation, growth, and dissolution;

(2) shall undertake and support (by grant or contract) research, demonstrations, and evaluations
respecting new or improved methods for obtaining new or improved methods for obtaining current
data on the matters referred to in paragraph (1);
(3) may undertake and support (by grant or contract) epidemiological research, demonstrations, and
evaluations on the matters referred to in paragraph (1); and
(4) may collect, furnish, tabulate, and analyze statistics, and prepare studies, on matters referred to in
paragraph (1) upon request of public and nonprofit private entities under arrangements under which
the entities will pay the cost of the service provided.
Amounts appropriated to the Secretary from payments made under arrangements made under
paragraph (4) shall be available to the Secretary for obligation until expended
Sec. 308 [242m]
(d) Information; publication restrictions
No information, if an establishment or person supplying the information or described in it is
identifiable, obtained in the course of activities undertaken or supported under section 242b, 242k, or
242l of this title may be used for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was supplied unless
such establishment or person has consented (as determined under regulations of the Secretary) to its
use for such other purpose; and in the case of information obtained in the course of health statistical
or epidemiological activities under section 242b or 242k of this title, such information may not be
published or released in other form if the particular establishment or person supplying the information
or described in it is identifiable unless such establishment or person has consented (as determined
under regulations of the Secretary) to its publication or release in other form.
Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (PL 107-347)
Subtitle A—Confidential Information Protection
SEC. 511. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) Individuals, businesses, and other organizations have varying degrees of legal protection when
providing information to the agencies for strictly statistical purposes.
(2) Pledges of confidentiality by agencies provide assurances to the public that information about
individuals or organizations or provided by individuals or organizations for exclusively statistical
purposes will be held in confidence and will not be used against such individuals or organizations in
any agency action.
(3) Protecting the confidentiality interests of individuals or organizations who provide information
under a pledge of confidentiality for Federal statistical programs serves both the interests of the public
and the needs of society.

(4) Declining trust of the public in the protection of information provided under a pledge of
confidentiality to the agencies adversely affects both the accuracy and completeness of statistical
analyses.
(5) Ensuring that information provided under a pledge of confidentiality for statistical purposes
receives protection is essential in continuing public cooperation in statistical programs.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this subtitle are the following:
(1) To ensure that information supplied by individuals or organizations to an agency for statistical
purposes under a pledge of confidentiality is used exclusively for statistical purposes.
(2) To ensure that individuals or organizations who supply information under a pledge of
confidentiality to agencies for statistical purposes will neither have that information disclosed
in identifiable form to anyone not authorized by this title nor have that information used for any
purpose other than a statistical purpose.
(3) To safeguard the confidentiality of individually identifiable information acquired under a pledge of
confidentiality for statistical purposes by controlling access to, and uses made of, such information.
SEC. 512. LIMITATIONS ON USE AND DISCLOSURE OF DATA AND INFORMATION.
(a) USE OF STATISTICAL DATA OR INFORMATION.—Data or information acquired by an agency under a
pledge of confidentiality and for exclusively statistical purposes shall be used by officers, employees, or
agents of the agency exclusively for statistical purposes.
(b) DISCLOSURE OF STATISTICAL DATA OR INFORMATION.—
(1) Data or information acquired by an agency under a pledge of confidentiality for exclusively
statistical purposes shall not be disclosed by an agency in identifiable form, for any use other than an
exclusively statistical purpose, except with the informed consent of the respondent.
(2) A disclosure pursuant to paragraph (1) is authorized only when the head of the agency approves
such disclosure and the disclosure is not prohibited by any other law.
(3) This section does not restrict or diminish any confidentiality protections in law that otherwise apply
to data or information acquired by an agency under a pledge of confidentiality for exclusively statistical
purposes.
(c) RULE FOR USE OF DATA OR INFORMATION FOR NONSTATISTICAL
PURPOSES.—A statistical agency or unit shall clearly distinguish any data or information it collects for
nonstatistical purposes (as authorized by law) and provide notice to the public, before the data or
information is collected, that the data or information could be used for nonstatistical purposes.
(d) DESIGNATION OF AGENTS.—A statistical agency or unit may designate agents, by contract or by
entering into a special agreement containing the provisions required under section 502(2) for
treatment as an agent under that section, who may perform exclusively statistical activities, subject to
the limitations and penalties described in this title.

SEC. 513. FINES AND PENALTIES.
Whoever, being an officer, employee, or agent of an agency acquiring information for exclusively
statistical purposes, having taken and subscribed the oath of office, or having sworn to observe
the limitations imposed by section 512, comes into possession of such information by reason of his or
her being an officer, employee, or agent and, knowing that the disclosure of the specific information
is prohibited under the provisions of this title, willfully discloses the information in any manner to a
person or agency not entitled to receive it, shall be guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned
for not more than 5 years, or fined not more than $250,000, or both.