Restructuring of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced a major reorganization, with reductions in workforce and the launch of two new offices.

HIMSS is investigating how the proposed reorganization will alter programs currently impacting the communities that HIMSS represents.

Changes include:

• Consolidating 28 divisions within HHS to 15, reducing regional offices from 10 to 5 and centralizing HR, IT, Procurement, External Affairs and Policy under the Secretary’s office
• Creating the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) that will focus on “more efficiently coordinating chronic care and disease prevention and harmonizing health resources” for the underserved
  • HHS is merging the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR- formerly housed in the Centers for Disease Control), and National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOSH, also formerly housed in CDC) to form AHA
• Establishing a new HHS Office of Strategy that will merge the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) with the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) to conduct healthcare research and inform policy development and assess effectiveness of HHS programs
• Creating a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement to provide oversight of the Departmental Appeals Board (DAB), Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeal (OMHA), and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to focus on identifying and combating waste, fraud and abuse

HHS has also provided a fact sheet about the restructuring.

Of particularly interest, HIMSS will be examining how these changes will impact the operations and processes governing digital health technology, information sharing and how the use of technologies and access to information impacts federal government access to care and payment reform initiatives. 

HIMSS will provide detailed analysis and insights in the coming days and weeks, and we invite you to send observations or questions to policy@himss.org. You can also take action to remind your representatives and senators that public health data modernization is essential to the nation’s health.