U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Email Updates Font Size Print Download Reader
PSC is the Program Support Center of The Department of Health and Human Services. As a part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA) the Center was created in 1995 to provide a wide range of administrative support within HHS, allowing the Department Operating Divisions to concentrate on their core functional and operational objectives.
For more information visit the PSC website or contact PSC directly.
To contact HHS employees, you may search the employee directory at http://directory.psc.gov/employee.htm. Or, you may call toll free 1-877-696-6775. If you are in the Washington, D.C. area, you may also call (202) 619-0257.
The roots of the Department of Health and Human Services go back to the earliest days of the nation. In the year...
1798 : Passage of an act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, which established a federal network of hospitals for the care of merchant seamen, forerunner of today's U.S. Public Health Service.
1862 : President Lincoln appointed a chemist, Charles M. Wetherill, to serve in the new Department of Agriculture. This was the beginning of the Bureau of Chemistry, forerunner to the Food and Drug Administration.
1871 : Appointment of the first Supervising Surgeon (later called Surgeon General) for the Marine Hospital Service, which had been organized the prior year.
1878 : Passage of the National Quarantine Act began the transfer of quarantine functions from the states to the federal Marine Hospital Service.
1887 : The federal government opened a one-room laboratory on Staten Island for research on disease, thereby planting the seed that was to grow into the National Institutes of Health.
1891 : Passage of immigration legislation, assigning to the Marine Hospital Service the responsibility for medical examination of arriving immigrants.
1902 : Conversion of Marine Hospital Service into the Public Health and Marine Hospital Service in recognition of its expanding activities in the field of public health. In 1912, the name was shortened to the Public Health Service.
1906 : Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act, authorizing the government to monitor the purity of foods and the safety of medicines, now a responsibility of the FDA.
1912 : President Theodore Roosevelt's first White House Conference urged creation of the Children's Bureau to combat exploitation of children.
1921 : The Bureau of Indian Affairs Health Division was created, the forerunner to the Indian Health Service.
1930 : Creation of the National Institute (late Institutes) of Health, out of the Public Health Service's Hygenic Laboratory.
1935 : Passage of the Social Security Act.
1938 : Passage of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
1939 : The Federal Security Agency was created, bringing together related federal activities in the fields of health, education and social insurance.
1946 : The Communicable Disease Center was established, forerunner of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1953: The Cabinet-level Department of Health, Education and Welfare was created under President Eisenhower, officially coming into existence April 11, 1953. In 1979, the Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law, providing for a separate Department of Education. HEW became the Department of Health and Human Services, officially arriving on May 4, 1980.
Some highlight dates in HEW and HHS history:
1955 : Licensing of the Salk polio vaccine. The Indian Health Service was transferred to HHS from the Department of Interior.
1961 : First White House Conference on Aging.
1962 : Passage of the Migrant Health Act, providing support for clinics serving agricultural workers.
1964 : Release of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health.
1965 : Creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs, making comprehensive health care available to millions of Americans. Also in 1965, the Older Americans Act created the nutritional and social programs administered by HHS Administration on Aging. In addition, the Head Start program was created.
1966 : International Smallpox Eradication program established -- led by the U.S. Public Health Service, the worldwide eradication of smallpox was accomplished in 1977. Also in 1966, the Community Health Center and Migrant Health Center programs were launched.
1970 : Creation of the National Health Service Corps.
1971 : National Cancer Act signed into law.
1975 : Child Support Enforcement program established.
1977 : Creation of the Health Care Financing Administration to manage Medicare and Medicaid separately from the Social Security Administration.
1980 : Federal funding provided to states for foster care and adoption assistance.
1981 : Identification of AIDS. In 1984, the HIV virus was identified by PHS and French scientists. In 1985, a blood test to detect HIV was licensed.
1984 : National Organ Transplantation Act signed into law.
1988 : Creation of the JOBS program and federal support for child care.
Passage of the McKinney Act to provide health care to the homeless.1989 : Creation of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality).
1990 : Human Genome Project established. Passage of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, authorizing the food label. Also, the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act began providing support for people with AIDS.
1993 : The Vaccines for Children Program is established, providing free immunizations to all children in low-income families.
1995 : The Social Security Administration became an independent agency.
1996 : Enactment of welfare reform under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Enactment of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
1997 : Creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), enabling states to extend health coverage to more uninsured children.
1999 : The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 is signed, making it possible for millions of Americans with disabilities to join the workforce without fear of losing their Medicaid and Medicare coverage. It also modernizes the employment services system for people with disabilities. Initiative on combating bioterrorism is launched.
2000 : Publication of human genome sequencing.
2001 : The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid is created, replacing the Health Care Financing Administration. HHS responds to the nation's first bioterrorism attack -- delivery of anthrax through the mail.
2002 : Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness created to coordinate efforts against bioterrorism and other emergency health threats.
2003 : Enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003, the most significant expansion of Medicare since its enactment, including a prescription drug benefit.
2006: Medicare Part D, a federal program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries in the United States, went into effect on January 1, 2006.
2010: The Affordable Care Act was signed on March 23, 2010, puting in place comprehensive health insurance reforms.
- Health Insurance Finder was launched July 2010 to assist the public with finding affordable health care insurance options.
CMS is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS is the federal HHS agency responsible for administering the Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance), and several other health-related programs.
Additional information regarding CMS and it's programs is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/home/aboutcms.asp.
HHS is comprised of 11 agencies (also known as Operating Divisions) and 16 staff divisions and is headed by the Secretary for Health and Human Services.
An organizational chart is available at http://www.hhs.gov/about/orgchart.html
You may want to visit the Web sites of our agencies to learn about the offices within each of these branches:
The HHS Careers page at http://www.hhs.gov/careers/index.html provides information about employment opportunities, including federal jobs, student internships, fellowships, etc. There is also information about:
The Social Security Administration (SSA), formerly a part of HHS, became an independent federal agency on March 31, 1995. For more information about your social security records, retirement and disability benefits, and assistance for survivors of benefit recipients, please contact SSA at http://www.ssa.gov.
Birth, death, and marriage certificates are issued by state government vital records offices. To obtain a certificate if you were born in the US, you will need to contact the vital records office in the state where the event occurred. To find state vital records offices, go to http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w.htm.
If you are foreign-born, but are a US Citizen, information is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/foreign.htm
If you have any questions about a document issued by a state government vital records office, please contact that office for further assistance.
HHS sponsors a number of online training programs in many categories. To learn more, select from the following:
Library of Online Training Programs
Healthy Lifestyles
Disease/Condition-Related Training
Public Health and Health Care
Drug and Food
Emergency Preparedness & Response
Research/Researchers
The US Government hosts an official Web site for all Federal Forms at http://www.forms.gov/. The best way to find a form is to search by the official name.
At the Department of Health and Human Services, our mission is to help provide the building blocks that Americans need to live healthy, successful lives. We fulfill that mission every day by providing millions of children, families, and seniors with access to high-quality health care, by helping people find jobs and parents find affordable child care, by keeping the food on Americans’ shelves safe and infectious diseases at bay, and by pushing the boundaries of how we diagnose and treat disease.
To achieve these goals, we must always keep an eye on the future – to prepare for the next public health emergency, to pursue the next lifesaving cure, and to support the development of the next generation of Americans. But we must also frequently look closer at old programs and existing services and ask: What needs to be changed? How can we serve Americans better? What can be done less expensively, faster and more transparently?
These priorities reflect both considerations – a clear-eyed view of the new investments we will need to meet the challenges and opportunities of a new decade, and a tough-minded assessment about how we can reform and refocus existing programs to make an even bigger difference in Americans’ lives.
Together, they form our vision for how our department can contribute to an even stronger, healthier, and more prosperous America in the years to come.
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you can request any records that are in an agency's possession and control and are not in the public domain. Records considered under the public domain are those that could be found in a library or available from a clearinghouse.
The FOIA requests for records that may be located at any of the major operating divisions (CDC, FDA, NIH, etc.) should be submitted to the relevant FOIA Requester Service Center. We recommend that before submitting the FOIA request, you first consult the Guide to Information Resources, to determine which component of HHS is most likely to have the records being requested (http://www.hhs.gov/about/infoguid.html#pub).
The addresses for HHS FOIA Requester Service Centers can be found at http://www.hhs.gov/foia/contacts/index.html. Each FOIA Service Center webpage includes the direct contact information for the FOIA office for that organization.
There are three ways to submit a FOIA request:
No, but you may complete the online form located at the Submit a Request web page, or mail or fax a letter with as much detail as possible about the specific records you need and which organizational component you believe may have the records.
If you request medical or personnel records, you must provide a consent form that names the person to whom the records pertain, a statement that HHS may release the records requested, with date and signature of the individual to whom the records pertain (for adults), and notarization.
If you request the records of a minor (a person under 18 years of age) your consent form must be signed by the minor's parent or guardian. The relationship between the minor and the person signing must be noted on the consent form.
In the original FOIA request, you are encouraged to specify the range of dates of the records you need. If you do not specify the time period which you would like the search to cover, the cut-off date will be the date on which the search is performed.
When your request is logged into the tracking system, you will receive a letter or card to acknowledge its receipt. Under the FOIA program, agencies initially have 20 working days and may take an additional ten (10) working days to respond to the request. The Office of the Secretary (OS) FOIA office will do its best to meet this deadline, but the nature of your request can be a factor in the speed of processing.
Some factors affecting the processing may include:
To assure a faster processing time for your request, we ask that you:
Expedited processing is not typically applicable for most requests, but may be granted in certain instances.
For more information on expedited processing, please see the U.S. Department of Justice’s FOIA Guide at www.usdoj.gov/oip/procereq.htm#expedited.
Under the FOIA, the government may withhold portions or all of some records if the records contain information that falls under any of the nine FOIA exemptions. The OS FOIA Office makes every attempt to provide a full release where possible, this is not always possible. The following are the most commonly cited exemptions which form the basis for withholding records.
To learn more about the exemptions, you may wish to view the FOIA, as amended, including the statutory exemption language: (http://www.justice.gov/oip/amended-foia-redlined-2010.pdf).
In the response letter you receive from the OS FOIA office, there will be a statement concerning which, if any, records were withheld, in full or in part, and which exemption(s) provide(s) for withholding the records.
In all cases, it is the intent of the OS FOIA Office to release the records requested to the fullest extent possible.
If FOIA records are withheld, in part or in full, your response letter will include a statement of your appeal rights. The letter will say that you may appeal and provide instructions on how to appeal.
If you do appeal, it will be logged into the Office of the Secretary's FOIA tracking system, and the initial request will be reconsidered in light of the issues you raise in your appeal. The Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA), or his/her designee, will respond on behalf of the Department as to the final determination on the appeal.
The OS FOIA office will respond in writing if the records were not located, and will also inform you of your right to appeal.
If you appeal, the appeal will be logged into the OS FOIA tracking system, and will be forwarded to whatever organizations may have records, including those which originally performed a search, for a follow-up search. The search results will be reviewed, and the ASPA or his/her designee will assess and make the final decision as to the adequacy of the search.
If the OS FOIA office is aware that another Department or Federal agency may have records you want, they will inform you of this.
We are allowed to recover part of the costs associated with the processing of FOIA requests. Unless you state a specific fee limit in your request, we will assume that you are willing to pay all the fees incurred in the processing of your request and we may contact you concerning the fees.
If your estimated fees exceed $250.00, you may be given the opportunity to narrow your request to reduce the fees or to confirm your commitment to pay the estimated amount.
You may wish to specify, in your request, the amount of fees you are willing to pay. We will then notify you if the anticipated fees will exceed this limit, and ask whether you wish us to proceed with the processing of your request.
The need to clarify fee issues or the absence of your willingness to pay processing costs could result in the delay or cancellation of your request. We ask each requester, therefore, to provide a statement of willing to pay all FOIA processing costs, as the amount of search and review time involved in processing your request may not be readily apparent.
For purposes of fee assessments, the FOIA divides requesters into three categories: commercial use requesters; representatives of the media, and educational or noncommercial scientific institutions whose purpose is scholarly or scientific research; and, all other requesters.
For more information on fees/fee waivers see the Department's implementing regulations at 45 CFR part 5, Subpart D (http://www.hhs.gov/foia/45cfr5.html#Subd).
The OS FOIA Office can be reached by:
The leader of the Medicaid and CHIP programs is a Deputy Administrator and Director. The list of the leadership and program functional statement are available at: http://www.cms.gov/CMSLeadership/07_Office_CMCSC.asp
Information about the President's Budget for HHS is available at: http://www.hhs.gov/about/hhsbudget.html.
Also on the Budget page are reports regarding the Congressional Budget Justifications and Performance Appendices.