2016 TAGGS Agencies

Administration for
Community Living

Kathy Greenlee

Administrator Assistant Secretary

Mission: Maximize the independence, well-being, and health of older adults, people with disabilities across the lifespan, and their families and caregivers.

Organization: ACL works with states, tribes, community providers, universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and families to help older adults and people with disabilities live in their homes and fully participate in their communities.

Assistant Secretary for
Planning & Evaluation

Richard Frank, Ph.D.

Assistant Secretary

Mission: The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) advises the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on policy development in health, disability, human services, data, and science, and provides advice and analysis on economic policy. ASPE leads special initiatives, coordinates the Department's evaluation, research and demonstration activities, and manages cross-Department planning activities such as strategic planning, legislative planning, and review of regulations. Integral to this role, ASPE conducts research and evaluation studies, develops policy analyses, and estimates the cost and benefits of policy alternatives under consideration by the Department or Congress. Organization: ACL works with states, tribes, community providers, universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and families to help older adults and people with disabilities live in their homes and fully participate in their communities.

Organization: ASPE, within the Office of the Secretary, is organized into principal offices: Office of Disability, Aging and Long-Term Care Policy, Office of Health Policy, Office of Human Services Policy/HHS’ Chief Economist, and Office of Science and Data Policy, as well as several smaller ones. Each of the major offices is headed by a Deputy Assistant Secretary.

Centers For Disease Control

Dr. Tom Freiden

Director

Mission: CDC works 24/7 keeping America safe from health, safety, and security threats, both foreign and domestic. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are chronic or acute, curable or preventable, human error or deliberate attack, CDC fights disease, and supports communities and citizens to do the same. CDC is the nation’s health protection agency — saving lives, protecting people from health threats, and saving money through prevention.

Organization: CDC’s Center, Institute, and Offices (CIOs) allow the agency to be more responsive and effective when dealing with public health concerns. The CIOs include the Center for Global Health (CGH), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Office of Noncommunicable Diseases, Injury and Environmental Health (ONDIEH), Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR), Office of Public Health Scientific Services (OPHSS), and the Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support (OSTLTS) Each group implements CDC′s response in their areas of expertise, while also providing intra-agency support and resource-sharing for cross-cutting issues and specific health threats.

Food & Drug Administration

Robert M. Califf, M.D.

Commissioner

Mission: To protect the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that give off radiation. The FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health.

Organization: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a scientific regulatory agency that is responsible for protecting and advancing the public health in the United States: FDA’s responsibilities cover a wide range of regulatory activities. FDA decisions affect every American on a daily basis. Annually, consumers spend nearly $1.5 trillion, or more than 20 percent of all consumer expenditures, on FDA-regulated products.

Indian Health Service

Mary L. Smith

Principal Deputy Director

Mission: To raise the physical, mental, social, and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level.

Organization: The Indian Health Service (IHS) provides a comprehensive health services delivery system for American Indians and Alaska Natives with opportunity for maximum tribal involvement in developing and managing programs to meet their health needs. IHS serves a population of approximately 2.2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The IHS goal is to ensure that comprehensive, culturally acceptable personal and public health services are available and accessible to American Indian and Alaska Native people. The foundation of IHS is to uphold the federal government's obligation to promote healthy American Indian and Alaska Native people, communities, and cultures and to honor and protect the inherent sovereign rights of Tribes.

The IHS manages Discretionary and “Compact” awards. Compacts are written agreements consistent with the federal government’s trust responsibility, treaty obligations, and the government-to-government relationship between Indian Tribes and the United States and may only be amended by mutual agreement of the parties. Compacts are usually awarded with an “indefinite term” per the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act under Title V of the statute and therefore intended to be in place in perpetuity. Funding Agreements associated with Title V compacts identify the Programs, Functions, Services, and Activities (PFSAs) or portions thereof that will be assumed by a Tribe or tribal organization and the funding that is related to those PFSAs. Each Tribe has a sole right to its share of IHS PFSAs. Each Tribe chooses whether to receive the funding and each Tribe controls the timing of the funding agreement and the retention of the ongoing responsibility for so long as permitted by federal law or until terminated by mutual written agreement, retrocession, or resumption.

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health

Karen B. DeSalvo, M.D., M.P.H., M.Sc.

Acting Assistant Secretary

Mission: Mobilizing leadership in science and prevention for a healthier nation.

Organization: OASH oversees 12 core public health offices — including the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Corps — as well as 10 regional health offices across the nation and 10 Presidential and Secretarial advisory committees.

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Jon White, M.D.

Acting National Coordinator

Mission: ONC is the principal Federal entity charged with coordination of nationwide efforts to implement and use the most advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information. The position of National Coordinator was created in 2004, through an Executive Order, and legislatively mandated in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009.

Organization: The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is at the forefront of the administration’s health IT efforts and is a resource to the entire health system to support the adoption of health information technology and the promotion of nationwide health information exchange to improve healthcare. ONC is organizationally located within the Office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.