What Is The Job Of Secretary Of Health And Human Services

The U.S. Department of Wellness and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level agency in the executive branch of the federal authorities. Its mission is to heighten and protect the well-being of all Americans by providing constructive health and homo services and fostering advances in medicine, public health and social services.

HHS is responsible for administrating programs that deal with health, welfare and health information technology (health IT). The Department works with almost one-fourth of all federal authorities expenditures and administers more than grant dollars than all other federal agencies combined. HHS' programs are administered by 11 operating divisions:

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
Administration for Community Living (ACL)
Agency for Wellness Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Bureau for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Health Resources and Services Assistants (HRSA)
Indian Health Service (IHS)
National Institutes of Wellness (NIH)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

HHS also includes the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (USPHS), which is overseen by the surgeon general.

However, some other of import aspect of HHS' job is overseeing the implementation of certain types of health Information technology. The agency has been active in this area in several ways, including:

Providing guidance for healthcare application development;
Providing guidance to protect against ransomware attacks;
Working toward fully understanding new cutting-edge technology such as blockchain; and
Actively administering a health IT infrastructure.

Furthermore, the Secretary of HHS Sylvia Burwell has become a leader in the wellness IT infinite, including publicly speaking out almost the adoption of electronic wellness records (EHR) and information blocking.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

CMS administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs as well equally oversees the Children'southward Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), the Wellness Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Clinical Laboratory Comeback Amendments (CLIA) and more.

In 2009, CMS was charged with several primal tasks for advancing health IT via the Health Information technology for Economical and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, including the implementation of EHR incentive programs, defining the meaningful use of certified EHR technology, drafting standards for the certification of EHR technology, and updating the health information privacy and security regulations under HIPAA.

Many of these efforts are being done in conjunction with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health It (ONC), which also comes under HHS.

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information technology

Former President George W. Bush created the ONC in 2004 and the role was written into legislation by the HITECH Act. The ONC'due south purpose is to promote a national health IT infrastructure and oversee its development. This includes policy coordination, strategic planning for the adoption of health Information technology and wellness information exchanges (HIE), establishing the Nationwide Health Information Network and promoting a national health It infrastructure.

The ONC aims to reach its ultimate goal, promoting a national wellness Information technology infrastructure, by improving the quality of healthcare while reducing costs; improving the coordination of care and data amongst hospitals, labs, physicians and other healthcare organizations; ensuring that personal wellness records (PHR) remain secure; and promoting the early detection, prevention and management of chronic illnesses.

This was last updated in September 2016

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