HEALTH
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- Office of the U.S. Surgeon General
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
The Secretary of Health and Human Services
Advises the President on health, welfare, and income security plans, policies, and programs of the Federal government. The Secretary administers these functions through the Office of the Secretary and the Department's 12 operating divisions, including a budget of $376 billion and a workforce of 59,000 employees.
Administration for Children and Families
Responsible for some 60 programs which provide services and assistance to needy children and families, administers the new state-federal welfare program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, administers the national child support enforcement system, and the Head Start program, provides funds to assist low-income families in paying for child care, and supports state programs to provide for foster care and adoption assistance.
Administration on Aging
Supports a nationwide aging network, providing services to the elderly, especially to enable them to remain independent. AoA supports some 240 million meals for the elderly each year, including home-delivered "meals on wheels," helps provide transportation and at-home services, supports ombudsman services for elderly, and provides policy leadership on aging issues.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
supports cross-cutting research on health care systems, health care quality and cost issues, and effectiveness of medical treatments.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
works with states and other federal agencies to prevent exposure to hazardous substances from waste sites. The agency conducts public health assessments, health studies, surveillance activities, and health education training in communities around waste sites on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
provides a system of health surveillance to monitor and prevent outbreak of diseases. With the assistance of states and other partners, CDC guards against international disease transmission, maintains national health statistics and provides for immunization services and supports research into disease and injury prevention.
Food and Drug Administration
assures the safety of foods and cosmetics, and the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals, biological products and medical devices.
Health Care Financing Administration
administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which provide health care to America's aged and indigenous populations, about one in every four Americans, including nearly 18 million children and and nursing home coverage for low-income elderly. HCFA also administers the new Children's Health Insurance Program through approved state plans that cover more than 2.2 million children.
Health Resources and Services Administration
helps provide health resources for medically underserved populations. HRSA supports a nationwide network of 643 community and migrant health centers, and 144 primary care programs for the homeless and residents of public housing, serving 8.1 million Americans each year. HRSA also works to build the health care workforce and maintains the National Health Service Corps, oversees the nation's organ transplantation system, works to decrease infant mortality and improve child health and provides services to people with AIDS through the Ryan White CARE Act programs.
Indian Health Service
supports a network of 37 hospitals, 60 health centers, 3 school health centers, 46 health stations and 34 urban Indian health centers to provide services to nearly 1.5 million American Indians and Alaska Natives of 557 federally recognized tribes.
Program Support Center,
a service-for-fee organization, utilizes a pioneering business enterprise approach to provide government support services throughout HHS as well as other Departments and Federal agencies. Administrative operations, financial management and human resources are solution- and customer-oriented, state-of-the-art and highly responsive to customer needs.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services.
National Institutes of Health (NIH),
with 25 separate institutes and Centers, is the world's premier medical research organization,
supporting some 35,000 research projects nationwide in diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, arthritis, heart ailments and AIDS.For more information, a
brief program summary
is provided for each Institute and Center.
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