From the U.S. House of Representatives Downloadable U.S. Code
[uscode.house.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 5, 1999]

[CITE: 42USC242a]

 
TITLE 42 - THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE
    CHAPTER 6A - PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
    SUBCHAPTER II - GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES
    Part A - Research and Investigations
 
-HEAD-
    Sec. 242a. Mental health
 
-STATUTE-
    (a) Clinical training and instruction and clinical traineeships;
        stipends and allowances; research projects
      In carrying out the purposes of section 241 of this title with
    respect to mental health -
        (1) the Secretary, acting through the Director of the Center
      for Mental Health Services, is authorized to provide clinical
      training and instruction and to establish and maintain clinical
      traineeships (with such stipends and allowances (including travel
      and subsistence expenses and dependency allowances) for the
      trainees as the Secretary may deem necessary);
        (2) the Surgeon General is authorized to make grants to State
      or local agencies, laboratories, and other public or nonprofit
      agencies and institutions, and to individuals for investigations,
      experiments, demonstrations, studies, and research projects with
      respect to the development of improved methods of diagnosing
      mental illness, and of care, treatment, and rehabilitation of the
      mentally ill, including grants to State agencies responsible for
      administration of State institutions for care, or care and
      treatment, of mentally ill persons for developing and
      establishing improved methods of operation and administration of
      such institutions.
    (b) Effect of treaties and other international agreements on
        confidentiality
      Nothing in the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the
    Convention on Psychotropic Substances, or other treaties or
    international agreements shall be construed to limit, modify, or
    prevent the protection of the confidentiality of patient records or
    of the names and other identifying characteristics of research
    subjects as provided by any Federal, State, or local law or
    regulation.
    (c) Grants to public and other nonprofit institutions
      The Secretary may provide for training, instruction, and
    traineeships under subsection (a)(1) of this section through grants
    to public and other nonprofit institutions.  Grants under paragraph
    (2) of subsection (a) of this section may be made only upon
    recommendation of the National Advisory Mental Health Council. Such
    grants may be paid in advance or by way of reimbursement, as may be
    determined by the Surgeon General; and shall be made on such
    conditions as the Surgeon General finds necessary.
    (d) Obligatory service for traineeships
      (1) Any individual who has received a clinical traineeship, in
    psychology, psychiatry, nursing, marital and family therapy,
    counseling, or social work, under subsection (a)(1) of this section
    that was not of a limited duration or experimental nature (as
    determined by the Secretary) is obligated to serve, in service
    determined by the Secretary to be appropriate in the light of the
    individual's training and experience, at the rate of one year for
    each year (or academic year, whichever the Secretary determines to
    be appropriate) of the traineeship.
      (2) The service required under paragraph (1) shall be performed -
        (A) for a public inpatient mental institution providing
      inpatient care or any entity receiving a grant under the Mental
      Health Systems Act (42 U.S.C. 9401 et seq.),
        (B) in a health professional shortage area (as determined under
      subpart II of part D of this subchapter),
        (C) in any other area or for any other entity designated by the
      Secretary, or
        (D) in a Federal or State correctional facility,
    and shall begin within such period after the termination of the
    traineeship as the Secretary may determine.  In developing criteria
    for determining for which institutions or entities or in which
    areas, referred to in the preceding sentence, individuals must
    perform service under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give
    preference to institutions, entities, or areas which in his
    judgment have the greatest need for personnel to perform that
    service.  The Secretary may permit service for or in other
    institutions, entities, or areas if the Secretary determines that
    the request for such service is supported by good cause.
      (3) Any individual who fails to perform the service required
    under this subsection within the period prescribed by the Secretary
    is obligated to repay to the United States an amount equal to three
    times the cost of the traineeship (including stipends and
    allowances) plus interest at the maximum legal rate at the time of
    payment of the traineeship, multiplied, in any case in which the
    service so required has been performed in part, by the percentage
    which the length of the service not so performed is of the length
    of the service so required to be performed.
      (4)(A) In the case of any individual any part of whose obligation
    to perform service under this subsection exists at the same time as
    any part of the individual's obligation to perform service under
    section 254m or 254n of this title (because of receipt of a
    scholarship under subpart II of part D of this subchapter) or the
    individual's obligation to perform service under section 288
    (FOOTNOTE 1) of this title (because of receipt of a National
    Research Service Award), or both, the same service may not be used
    to any extent to meet more than one of those obligations.
       (FOOTNOTE 1) See Codification note below.
      (B) In any case to which subparagraph (A) is applicable and in
    which one of the obligations is to perform service under section
    254m or 254n of this title, the obligation to perform service under
    that section must be met (by performance of the required service or
    payment of damages) before the obligation to perform service under
    this subsection or under section 288 (FOOTNOTE 1) of this title.
      (C) In any case to which subparagraph (A) is applicable, if any
    part of the obligation to perform service under section 288
    (FOOTNOTE 1) of this title exists at the same time as any part of
    the obligation to perform service under this subsection, the manner
    and time of meeting each obligation shall be prescribed by the
    Secretary.
      (5) In disseminating application forms to individuals desiring
    traineeships, the Secretary shall include with such forms a fair
    summary of the liabilities under this subsection of an individual
    who receives a traineeship.
 
-SOURCE-
    (July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title III, Sec. 303, as added July 3, 1946,
    ch. 538, Sec. 7(c), 60 Stat. 423; amended Aug. 2, 1956, ch. 871,
    title V, Sec. 501, 70 Stat. 929; Pub. L. 91-513, title I, Sec.
    3(a), Oct. 27, 1970, 84 Stat. 1241; Pub. L. 93-282, title I, Sec.
    122(b), May 14, 1974, 88 Stat. 132; Pub. L. 93-348, title I, Sec.
    104(a)(2), July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 346; Pub. L. 95-633, title I,
    Sec. 108(b), Nov. 10, 1978, 92 Stat. 3773; Pub. L. 96-398, title
    VIII, Sec. 803(a), Oct. 7, 1980, 94 Stat. 1607; Pub. L. 100-177,
    title II, Sec. 202(a), Dec. 1, 1987, 101 Stat. 996; Pub. L.
    100-607, title I, Sec. 163(1)(A), Nov. 4, 1988, 102 Stat. 3062;
    Pub. L. 100-690, title II, Sec. 2058(b), Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat.
    4214; Pub. L. 101-597, title IV, Sec. 401(b)((a)), Nov. 16, 1990,
    104 Stat. 3035; Pub. L. 102-321, title I, Sec. 115(b), July 10,
    1992, 106 Stat. 348; Pub. L. 102-408, title III, Sec. 305, Oct. 13,
    1992, 106 Stat. 2084; Pub. L. 105-392, title IV, Sec. 403, Nov. 13,
    1998, 112 Stat. 3588.)
 
-REFTEXT-
                             REFERENCES IN TEXT
      The Mental Health Systems Act, referred to in subsec. (d)(2)(A),
    is Pub. L. 96-398, Oct. 7, 1980, 96 Stat. 1564, as amended, which
    is classified principally to chapter 102 (Sec. 9401 et seq.) of
    this title.  For complete classification of this Act to the Code,
    see Short Title note set out under section 9401 of this title and
    Tables.
 
-COD-
                                CODIFICATION
      Section 288 of this title, referred to in subsec. (d)(4), in the
    original referred to section 472, meaning section 472 of the Public
    Health Service Act, which was classified to section 289l-1 of this
    title.  Title IV of the Public Health Service Act was amended
    generally by section 2 of Pub. L. 99-158, Nov. 20, 1985, 99 Stat.
    822, and provisions formerly contained in section 472 were restated
    in section 487 of the Public Health Service Act, which is
    classified to section 288 of this title.
 
-MISC3-
                                 AMENDMENTS
      1998 - Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 105-392 inserted ''counseling,''
    after ''family therapy,''.
      1992 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 102-321, Sec. 115(b)(1), struck out
    '', the Surgeon General is authorized'' after ''health'' in
    introductory provisions.
      Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 102-321, Sec. 115(b)(2), inserted ''the
    Secretary, acting through the Director of the Center for Mental
    Health Services, is authorized'' after ''(1)''.
      Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 102-321, Sec. 115(b)(3), inserted ''the
    Surgeon General is authorized'' after ''(2)''.
      Subsec. (d)(2)(D). Pub. L. 102-408 added subpar. (D).
      1990 - Subsec. (d)(2)(B). Pub. L. 101-597 substituted ''health
    professional shortage area'' for ''health manpower shortage area''.
      1988 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100-607 redesignated concluding
    provisions which permitted Secretary to authorize persons engaged
    in research on mental health to protect privacy of individuals who
    are subject of such research by withholding names of such
    individuals, and which prohibited compulsion of persons so
    authorized to identify such individuals in any court or other
    proceedings, as subsec. (d) of section 241 of this title.
      Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 100-690 inserted ''marital and family
    therapy,'' after ''nursing,''.
      1987 - Subsec. (d)(4). Pub. L. 100-177 made technical amendment
    to references to ''section 254m or 254n of this title'' in two
    places and substituted ''subpart II of Part D of this subchapter''
    for ''subpart IV of Part C of subchapter V of this chapter'' to
    reflect renumbering of corresponding provisions of original act.
      1980 - Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 96-398 added subsec. (d).
      1978 - Subsecs. (b), (c). Pub. L. 95-633 added subsec. (b) and
    redesignated former subsec. (b) as (c).
      1974 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93-282 substituted ''mental health,
    including research on the use and effect of alcohol and other
    psychoactive drugs'' for ''the use and effect of drugs''.
      Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 93-348, Sec. 104(a)(2)(A), inserted
    ''clinical'' before ''training and instruction'' and
    ''traineeships'' and substituted ''(with such stipends and
    allowances (including travel and subsistence expenses and
    dependency allowances) for the trainees as the Secretary may deem
    necessary)'' for '', in accordance with the provisions of section
    289c(a) of this title''.
      Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 93-348, Sec. 104(a)(2)(B), authorized
    Secretary to provide for training, instruction, and traineeships
    under subsection (a)(1) of this section through grants to public
    and other nonprofit institutions.
      1970 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 91-513 inserted provisions
    authorizing withholding of information concerning identity of
    persons who are subjects of research on use and effect of drugs.
      1956 - Subsec. (a). Act Aug. 2, 1956, substituted provisions of
    par. (1) relating to traineeships in accordance with section
    289c(a) of this title and par. (2) relating to grants for research
    and improved operation of mental institutions for provisions
    relating to admission of study patients, including patients from
    St. Elizabeths Hospital, to the National Institute of Mental
    Health.
      Subsec. (b). Act Aug. 2, 1956, substituted provisions relating to
    recommendation of grants by Council and payment by Surgeon General
    for provisions relating to mental health training.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1992 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 102-321 effective Oct. 1, 1992, with
    provision for programs providing financial assistance, see section
    801(c), (d) of Pub. L. 102-321, set out as a note under section 236
    of this title.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1990 AMENDMENT
      Section 501 of Pub. L. 101-597 provided that: ''This Act and the
    amendments made by this Act (enacting sections 254f-1, 254o-1, and
    254r of this title, amending this section, sections 254d to 254i,
    254k, 254l to 254q-1, 254s, 294h, 294n, 294aa, 295g-1, 296m,
    1320c-5, 1395l, 1395u, 1395x, 3505d, and 9840 of this title, and
    section 2123 of Title 10, Armed Forces, and enacting provisions set
    out as notes under sections 201, 254l-1, and 254o of this title)
    shall take effect October 1, 1990, or upon the date of the
    enactment of this Act (Nov. 16, 1990), whichever occurs later.''
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1980 AMENDMENT
      Section 803(b) of Pub. L. 96-398 provided that: ''The amendment
    made by subsection (a) (amending this section) applies in the case
    of any academic year (of any traineeship awarded under section
    303(a)(1) of the Public Health Service Act (subsec. (a)(1) of this
    section)) beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act
    (Oct. 7, 1980) if the award for such academic year is made after
    such date.''
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 95-633 effective on date Convention on
    Psychotropic Substances enters into force in the United States, see
    section 112 of Pub. L. 95-633, set out as an Effective Date note
    under section 801a of Title 21, Food and Drugs. Convention on
    Psychotropic Substances entered into force for the United States on
    July 15, 1980.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1974 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 93-348 not applicable with respect to
    commitments made before July 12, 1974, by the Secretary of Health,
    Education, and Welfare for research training, see section 104(b) of
    Pub. L. 93-348, set out as a note under section 241 of this title.
                      EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1956 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by act Aug. 2, 1956, effective July 1, 1956, see
    section 503 of act Aug. 2, 1956.
 
-TRANS-
                           TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS
      Office of Surgeon General abolished by section 3 of Reorg. Plan
    No. 3 of 1966, eff.  June 25, 1966, 31 F.R. 8855, 80 Stat. 1610,
    and functions thereof transferred to Secretary of Health,
    Education, and Welfare by section 1 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1966,
    set out as a note under section 202 of this title.  Secretary of
    Health, Education, and Welfare redesignated Secretary of Health and
    Human Services by section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96-88 which is
    classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.
 
-MISC5-
                     TERMINATION OF ADVISORY COMMITTEES
      Pub. L. 93-641, Sec. 6, Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2275, set out as a
    note under section 217a of this title, provided that an advisory
    committee established pursuant to the Public Health Service Act
    shall terminate at such time as may be specifically prescribed by
    an Act of Congress enacted after Jan. 4, 1975.
 
-SECREF-
                   SECTION REFERRED TO IN OTHER SECTIONS
      This section is referred to in section 290bb-31 of this title;
    title 21 section 850.