Health Resources and Services Administration
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1982 |
| Preceding agencies |
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| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Rockville, Maryland |
| Employees | 1,860 |
| Annual budget | $10 billion USD (2015) |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent agency | United States Department of Health and Human Services |
| Website | www.hrsa.gov |
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services located in Rockville, Maryland. It is the primary federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
Comprising six bureaus and 13 offices, HRSA provides leadership and financial support to health care providers in every state and U.S. territory. HRSA grantees provide health care to uninsured people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and pregnant women, mothers and children. They train health professionals and improve systems of care in rural communities.
HRSA oversees organ, bone marrow and cord blood donation. It supports programs that prepare against bioterrorism, compensate individuals harmed by vaccination, and maintains databases that protect against health care malpractice and health care waste, fraud and abuse.
Since 1943 the agencies that were HRSA precursors have worked to improve the health of needy people. HRSA was created in 1982, when the Health Resources Administration and the Health Services Administration were merged.
In April 2015, Jim Macrae became acting Administrator of HRSA, replacing Dr. Mary Wakefield who was appointed the acting deputy Secretary of HHS.
The Administration has four primary goals:
HRSA funds almost 1,110 health center grantees that operate more than 7,000 clinics and mobile medical vans. Health centers deliver primary and preventive care to over 16 million low-income patients in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and U.S. possessions in the Pacific.
The agency’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides primary care, support services and antiretroviral drugs for about 530,000 low-income people. The program also funds training, technical assistance and demonstration projects designed to slow the spread of the epidemic in high-risk populations. These services avert more costly in-patient care and improve the quality of life for those living with the virus.
HRSA administers a broad range of programs for pregnant women, mothers, infants, children, adolescents and their families and children with special health care requirements. The largest of the programs, the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant to States, supports local efforts to reduce infant mortality and childhood illness and control costs associated with poor pre- and neo-natal care. The Block Grant includes State Formula Block Grants, Special Projects of Regional and National Significance (SPRANS), and Community Integrated Service Systems (CISS) projects. Other vital missions include Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, Traumatic Brain Injury, Healthy Start, Sickle Cell Service Demonstrations, Family to Family Health Information Centers, Emergency Medical Services for Children, and autism.
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