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United States Department of Health and Human Services

 
Dental Dictionary: United States Department of Health and Human Services
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USDHHS

A cabinet-level government organization comprising 12 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control.

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Encyclopedia of Public Health: United States Department of Health and Human Services
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The United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) was officially created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, when the Department of Education was fashioned out of the education component of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. It traces its beginning to the establishment of the Federal Security Agency by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939. The Federal Security Agency became the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) in 1953 and then DHHS in 1980. In the 1990s, three major changes affected the DHHS: (1) on March 31, 1995, the Social Security Administration, with its more than 55,000 employees and $400 billion expenditures (in 1995) was established as an independent agency, with the commissioner of social security reporting to the president; (2) in 1995, the eight agencies of the U.S. Public Health Service were designated as operating divisions of DHHS, reporting to the secretary instead of reporting to the Assistant Secretary for Health (which they had done since 1968); and (3) in 1996, Congress terminated the federal Aid to Families With Dependent Children's Program (commonly called welfare) and replaced it with block grants to states that stressed work instead of a minimum guaranteed payment for poor mothers and their children, thus dramatically reducing the federal role in welfare policy. The result of these changes was to make DHHS a de facto department of health.

The USDHHS is led by the Secretary of Health and Human Services Staff Offices (e.g., general counsel, Assistant Secretaries for Health, for Legislation, for Planning and Evaluation, for Public Affairs, and for Management and Budget, Director of the Office of Civil Rights), an independent inspector general and twelve operating divisions:(1) Administration on Aging; (2) Administration for Children and Families; (3) Health Care Financing Administration (Medicare and Medicaid); (4) Program Support Center; and the eight divisions that together constitute the U.S. Public Health Service: (1) Agency for Health Care Quality and Research, (2) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, (3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (4) Food and Drug Administration, (5) Health Resources and Services Administration, (6) Indian Health Service, (7) National Institutes of Health, and (8) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

In the year 2001, the expenditures by DHHS will exceed $400 billion, second only to the Social Security Administration. The largest expenditures will be for Medicare ($260 billion) and Medicaid ($123 billion), followed by the NIH ($20 billion), the Administration for Children and Families ($17 billion), to the smallest grant-in-aid programs ($29 million) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The DHHS employs more than 50,000 individuals, mainly in the Indian Health Service and NIH.

The DHHS administers over 300 grant-in-aid programs, primarily to state and local governments for a variety of public health and social service programs, to universities for research, and to a range of nonprofit organizations and institutions (e.g., hospitals and community health centers).

The secretary's responsibilities include overseeing the hundreds of public health and social service programs, as well as Medicare and Medicaid. The secretary also oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is the federal government's primary public health regulatory agency. In addition, the secretary advises the president on a range of health and social services policies. When President Roosevelt initiated the Federal Security Act in 1939 it was his desire to unite all federal agencies "concerned with the promotion of social and economic security, educational opportunity and the health of the citizens of the nation." In the intervening years the DHEW included these functions and expanded rapidly in the 1960s, with the advent of President Johnson's great society programs. In the 1970s, environmental health programs were moved to the EPA; in the 1980s education and vocational rehabilitation programs moved to the newly created Department of Education; and in 1995 the Social Security Administration (the core of the Federal Security Agency) became an independent agency. Despite these changes, the DHHS remains the largest federal department and one of the most complex to lead and manage.

(SEE ALSO: Administration for Children and Families; Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Food and Drug Administration; Health Care Financing Administration; Health Resources and Services Administration; National Institutes of Health; United States Public Health Service [USPHS])

Bibliography

Berkowitz, E. (1998). "Health and Human Services, Department of." In A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government, ed. G. T. Kurian. New York: Oxford University Press.

— PHILIP R. LEE,; ANNE M. PORZIG,; BRIAN P

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: United States Department of Health and Human Services
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Health and Human Services, United States Department of, federal executive department charged with administering government health programs. Successor to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, which had been created in 1953, it was redesignated in 1979 with the creation of the Department of Education. The secretary advises the President on health and welfare matters. The department has several components. The Administration for Children and Families is responsible for Operation Head Start, the enforcement of child support laws, and programs concerning adoption, job training, and runaway youths. The Public Health Service is divided into 42 subdivisions; it carries out research on disease and health concerns through the National Institutes of Health, protects consumers from adulterated or untested foods and drugs through the Food and Drug Administration, and implements public health measures and monitors the spread of infectious diseases through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration develops and analyzes information relating to the prevention and treatment of addictive and mental disorders. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administers Medicare and Medicaid. The Social Security Administration, formerly part of the department, became an independent agency in 1995 (see social security). The Administration on Aging develops policy and programs to promote the welfare of older Americans and administers grants to states to establish community programs for them.

WordNet: Health and Human Services
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: the federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979
  Synonym: Department of Health and Human Services

Wikipedia: United States Department of Health and Human Services
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Department of Health and Human Services
US-DeptOfHHS-Seal.svg
Official seal
US-DeptOfHHS-Logo.svg
HHS Logo
DHHS2 by Matthew Bisanz.JPG
DHHS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Agency overview
Formed April 11, 1953
May 4, 1980
Preceding agency United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Jurisdiction Federal government of the United States
Headquarters Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Washington, D.C.
Employees 67,000 (2004)
Annual budget Discretionary: $67.2 billion (2006)
Mandatory: $573.5 billion (2006)
Agency executives Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary
Bill Corr, Deputy Secretary
Child agency HHS agencies
Website
www.hhs.gov

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a Cabinet department of the United States government with the goal of protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before its education functions were spun off in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

Contents

History

President Harding proposed a Department of Education and Welfare as early as 1923, and similar proposals were also recommended by subsequent presidents, but for various reasons was not implemented.[1] It was only enacted thirty years later as part of the Reorganization Plan Number 1 of 1953, transmitted to Congress by Dwight D. Eisenhower on March 12, 1953. This was the only department of the U.S. government to be created through presidential reorganization authority, in which the president was allowed to create or reorganize bureaucracies as long as neither house of Congress passed a legislative veto. This power to create new departments was removed after 1962, and in the early 1980s the Supreme Court declared legislative vetoes unconstitutional.

The department was renamed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1979,[2] when its education functions were transferred to the newly created United States Department of Education under the Department of Education Organization Act.[3] HHS was left in charge of the Social Security Administration, agencies constituting the Public Health Service, and Family Support Administration.

In 1995, the Social Security Administration was removed from the Department of Health and Human Services, and established as an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States Government.

HHS is administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. The United States Public Health Service (PHS) is the main division of the HHS and is led by the Assistant Secretary for Health. The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, the uniformed service of the PHS, is led by the Surgeon General who is responsible for addressing matters concerning public health as authorized by the Secretary or by the Assistant Secretary of Health in addition to his primary mission of administering the Commissioned Corps. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigates criminal activity for HHS. The special agents who work for OIG have the same title series "1811", training and authority as other federal criminal investigators, such as the FBI, ATF, DEA and Secret Service. However, OIG Special Agents have special skills in investigating white collar crime related to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse. Organized crime has dominated the criminal activity relative to this type of fraud.

HHS-OIG investigates tens of millions of dollars in Medicare fraud each year. In addition, OIG will continue its coverage of all 50 States and the District of Columbia by its multi-agency task forces (PSOC Task Forces) that identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals who willfully avoid payment of their child support obligations under the Child Support Recovery Act.

In 2002, the department released Healthy People 2010, a national strategic initiative for improving the health of Americans.

Agencies [4]

Office of the Secretary (OS)

Operating divisions


(Several agencies within HHS are components of the Public Health Service (PHS), including AHRQ, ASPR, ATSDR, CDC, FDA, HRSA, IHS, NIH, SAMHSA, OGHA, and OPHS).[6]

Former operating divisions and agencies

Budget

The Department of Health and Human Services' budget includes more than 300 programs, covering a wide spectrum of activities. Some highlights include:

  • Health and social science research
  • Preventing disease, including immunization services
  • Assuring food and drug safety
  • Medicare (health insurance for elderly and disabled Americans) and Medicaid (health insurance for low-income people)
  • Health information technology
  • Financial assistance and services for low-income families
  • Improving maternal and infant health, including a Nurse Home Visitation to support first-time mothers.
  • Head Start (pre-school education and services)
  • Faith-based and community initiatives
  • Preventing child abuse and domestic violence
  • Substance abuse treatment and prevention
  • Services for older Americans, including home-delivered meals
  • Comprehensive health services for Native Americans
  • Medical preparedness for emergencies, including potential terrorism.

Health care reform

The 2010 United States federal budget establishes a reserve fund of more than $630 billion over 10 years to finance fundamental reform of the health care system. [7]

Related legislation

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Eisenhower, Dwight (1953-03-12). "Message of the President". http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title5a/5a_4_49_2_.html. Retrieved 2008-03-02. 
  2. ^ 19 U.S.C. § 3508
  3. ^ Full text of the Department of Education Organization Act, P.L. 96-88
  4. ^ http://www.hhs.gov/about/index.html
  5. ^ http://www.hhs.gov/ophs/
  6. ^ http://www.hhs.gov/about/orgchart/index.html
  7. ^ http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/A_New_Era_of_Responsibility2.pdf
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United States federal executive departments
v • d • e
Agencies of the United States Department of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Health and Human Services · Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretariate staff offices
Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services · Office of the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services
 United States Department of Health and Human Services Seal
Organizations under the
Assistant Secretary for Health

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dental Dictionary. Mosby's Dental Dictionary. Copyright © 2004 by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Encyclopedia of Public Health. Encyclopedia of Public Health. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "United States Department of Health and Human Services".  Read more