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Date: Wednesday, May 14, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: HRSA Press Office, 301-443-3376
An overhaul of the Health Resources and Services Administration, a $3.4 billion, 2,000 employee agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was announced today by Acting Administrator Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H.
HRSA's carefully planned reorganization streamlines agency operations, builds partnerships inside and outside the federal government, and consolidates programs and expertise to focus on the most critical issues surrounding health care for underserved and vulnerable individuals and families.
HRSA's broad mission--to provide care and services to the Nation's underserved and vulnerable citizens--requires the agency to administer more than 80 distinct programs. They range from community health centers to services for people with HIV/AIDS, from health professions training to maternal and child health.
AHRSA is retooling to provide better customer service to the people who design, finance or provide health care for underserved Americans,@ said Dr. Fox. AOur HIV/AIDS, managed care, quality and public health programs are more focused, and we've increased flexibility to respond to unmet needs.@
To create an integrated response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, all Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act programs are consolidated from across the agency and elevated to a new Bureau for HIV/AIDS. These programs include formula grants to localities with high rates of HIV infection, early intervention, special initiatives for women and adolescents, and formula grants to states that support services--including pharmaceuticals and other treatments--for poor and uninsured people with HIV.
HRSA's other bureaus: Health Professions, Primary Health Care and Maternal and Child Health will be maintained and strengthened. All four bureau directors will become associate administrators of the agency.
To help coordinate the agency's efforts to address the most pressing issues related to service for the underserved, the reorganization augments HRSA's existing Center for Managed Care with new Centers for Quality and Public Health Practice. Senior advisors for international health, women's health and special initiatives give added emphasis to areas of critical concern.
HRSA's central office of the administrator will be streamlined and the agency's field operations will be clustered into five major offices headed by HRSA field coordinators: Northeast in Philadelphia, Southeast in Atlanta, Midwest in Chicago, West Central in Dallas and Pacific West in San Francisco.
"HRSA will implement
this reorganization with no reductions of staff or disruption
of service," Dr. Fox said.