REQUIREMENT OF PEER REVIEW GROUPS FOR EVALUATIONS OF GRANT PROPOSALS.

SEC. 107. REQUIREMENT OF PEER REVIEW GROUPS FOR EVALUATIONS OF GRANT PROPOSALS. Section 308(b) (42 U.S.C. 242m(b)) is amended— (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting before the period at the end thereof the following: “and unless a peer review group referred to in paragraph (2) has recommended the application for approval”; and (2) by striking out paragraph (2) and inserting in lieu thereof the following new paragraph: “(2)(A) Each application submitted for a grant or contract under section 804 or 805, in an amount exceeding $50,000 of direct costs and for a health services research, evaluation, or demonstration project, shall be submitted to a peer review group for an evaluation of the technical and scientific merits of the proposals made in each such application. The Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Center for Health Services Research and Health Care Technology Assessment (or, as appropriate, through the Director of the National Center for Health Statistics), shall establish such peer review groups as may be necessary to provide for such an evaluation of each such application. “(B) A peer review group to which an application is submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall report its finding and recommendations respecting the application to the Secretary, acting through the Director involved, in such form and manner as the Secretary shall by regulation prescribe. The Secretary may not approve an application described in such subparagraph unless a peer review group bas recommended the application for approval. 101 STAT. 990 “(C) The Secretary, acting through the Directors, shall make appointments to the peer review groups required in subparagraph (A) from among persons who are not officers or employees of the United States and who possess appropriate technical and scientific qualifications.”.