The Regional Medical Programs Collection
Organizational Period (October 1965 to September 1968)
In October 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed Public Law 89-239, the Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke Amendments. In this
law, the DeBakey Commission's concepts of "regional medical
complexes" and "coordinated arrangements" were replaced by
"regional medical programs" and "cooperative arrangements," thus
emphasizing voluntary linkages over mandatory ones. The National
Advisory Council on Regional Medical Programs (RMP) met for the
first time in December 1965. The Division was originally based
in the National Institutes of Health (NIH). By April 1966, the
first planning grants were approved by the National Advisory
Council, and the first operational grants were approved the
following February. When Surgeon General William H. Stewart made
his first report on the program to the President and Congress in
June 1967, forty-seven operational grants had been awarded and
four RMP were already operational. In July 1968, the RMP were
moved from NIH to the newly created Health Services and Mental
Health Administration (HSMHA) as part of the Regional Medical
Program Service (RMPS).
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