AGENCIES AND PROGRAMS OF PHS
Within the Department of Health and Human Services, PHS is the
major health component of the U.S.Government and is under the
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. The PHS consists of
eight agencies: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research;
Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry: Alcohol, Drug
Abuse, and Mental Health Administration; Centers for Disease
Control; Food and Drug Administration; Health Resources and
Services Administration; Indian Health Service; and the
National Institutes of Health.
Following are descriptions of the various PHS components and
other programs to which commissioned corps officers are assigned.
Also included are the addresses of the personnel offices of each
Agency, which can be contacted for additional information on
employment opportunities and vacancies within these agencies.
A. OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH (OASH)
The Assistant Secretary for Health directs the activities
of the OASH, and with the Surgeon General:
serves as the principal advisor on health to the nation;
provides national leadership and guidance for developing
health strategy, health and health-related policies and
programs; and coordinates activities with other government,
private and international agencies concerned with health.
The major activities located in the OASH are: National AIDS
Program Office, Office of Population Affairs, Office of
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, President's
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Office of
International Health, Office of the Surgeon General, the
Offices of the Regional Health Administrators, and several
offices providing administration and management, including
the Office of Management, the Office of Health Planning and
Evaluation, and tho Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health
Commissioned Corps Liaison Officer
Room 17-34, Parklawn Building
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-5000
B. AGENCY FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY AND RESEARCH (AHCPR)
The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research administers
programs to enhance the quality, appropriateness, and
effectiveness of health care services, and access to such
services, through the establishment of a broad base of
scientific research and through the promotion of
improvements in clinical practice and in the organization,
financing, and delivery of health care services including:
(1) the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of health
care services; (2) the outcomes of health care services and
procedures; (3) clinical practice, including primary care
and practice-oriented research; (4) health care
technologies, facilities, and equipment; (5) health care
costs, productivity, and market forces; (6) health
promotion and disease prevention; (7)health statistics and
epidemiology; (8) medical liability;(9) delivery of health
care services in rural areas; and (10) the health of
low-income groups, minority groups, and the elderly. The
AHCPR: provides national leadership, coordination and
administration of a program for medical treatment
effectiveness, health services research and health care
technology assessment and transfer; manages a program of
research to enhance the quality, appropriateness and
effectiveness of health care services;
undertakes health services analysis on the costs of care,
utilization of services, and other policy studies;
provides investigator-initiated grants for health services
and health care technology research, demonstration, and
evaluation activities;
disseminates findings of health services research, health
care technology research, medical effectiveness research
and related activities to providers, policy makers and
consumers;
promotes the quality, appropriateness and effectiveness of
health care through the promulgation of practice
guidelines; and advises and facilitates policy discussion
on the use ofhealth care data.
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
Commissioned Corps Liaison Officer
Room 17-34, Parklawn Building
Rockville, MD 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-5000
C. AGENCY FOR TOXIC SUBSTANCES AND DISEASE REGISTRY (ATSDR)
The mission of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (ATSDR) is to prevent or mitigate the adverse
human health effects and diminished quality of life that
results from exposure to hazardous substances in the
environment. To carry out this mission and serve the
needs of the American public, the ATSDR conducts activities
in the following areas:
PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENTS: Evaluate data and information
on the release of hazardous substances into the environment
to 10 assess any current or future impact on public
health, 2) develop health advisories or other health
recommendations, and 3) identify studies or actions needed
to evaluate and mitigate or prevent human health effects.
ATSDR conducts
health assessments for all waste sites on the National
Priorities List and in response to petitions
from concerned individuals or organizations.
HEALTH INVESTIGATIONS: To increase our understanding of
the relationship between exposure to hazardous substances
and adverse human health effects, through epidemiologic
surveillance, and other studies of toxic substances and
their effects.
EXPOSURE AND DISEASE REGISTRIES: To establish and maintain
a registry of persons exposed to hazardous substances and a
registry of serious diseases and illnesses in persons
exposed to hazardous substances in the environment.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE: To provide health-related support to
states, local agencies, and health care providers in public
health emergencies that involve exposure to hazardous
substances, including health consultations on request and
training for first responders.
TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILES: To summarize and make available to
the public data on the health effects of hazardous
substances, identify significant gaps in knowledge, and
initiate research in toxicology and health effects where
needed.
HEALTH EDUCATION: To develop and disseminate, to
physicians and other health care providers, materials on
the health effects of toxic substances; establish and
maintain a publicly accessible inventory of hazardous
substances; and maintain a list of sites closed or
restricted to the public because of contamination by
hazardous substances.
APPLIED RESEARCH: To conduct or sponsor research to
increase scientific knowledge about the effects on human
health of hazardous substances released from waste sites or
of other releases into the environment.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Personnel Management Branch
Commissioned Corps Section
Bldg #1, Room 1042
1600 Clifton Road, N.E.
Atlanta GA 30333
Telephone: FTS 236-3276
404-639-3276
D. ALCOHOL, DRUG ABUSE, AND MENTAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
(ADAMHA)
The Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration
ADAMHA) holds lead responsibility for the Federal governments
efforts to seek scientific solutions to the causes,
treatment, and prevention of mental illness and alcohol and
other drug abuse disorders. It also has the challenge to exert
national leadership, based on the information generated through
research, to help improve the Nation's capacity to treat
and prevent these disorders.
The ADAMHA is comprised of five principal components: at
its core are three research Institutes -- the National Institute
on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National
Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), and the National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH). The primary mission of these Institutes
is to advance scientific knowledge through the conduct
intramural) and support (extramural) of basic and clinical
research and research training. Two additional ADAMHA components
assist in the national leadership tasks of transferring and
applying research-based knowledge to clinical treatment and
prevention services: the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention
(OSAP) and the Office for Treatment Improvement (OTI). The
OSAP conducts a wide range of prevention demonstration
projects and education/training activities, while the OTI is
responsible for providing Federal leadership in translating our
knowledge base into improved treatment services. Both
programs administer grants in support of their activities.
Today, growing acknowledgement exists of the need for
scientific understanding of the causes of mental and addictive
disorders, the mechanisms of effective treatments for them, and
the rationale behind various approaches to large-scale,
community based prevention efforts targeted on these disorders.
These highly visible and pressing problems, moreover, constitute
only a part of the justification for accelerated research on
mental anda ddictive disorders. Basic neuroscientific research
offers the possibility of explicating neurobiological and genetic
causes that will enable medical scientists to address these
problems at the most fundamental levels.
The ADAMHA's emphasis on both drug abuse prevention and
drug treatment improvement logically complements the Agency's
research agenda and represents steps toward the long-term
goals of enhancing the quality of the Nation's prevention
approaches and treatment systems for persons suffering mental and
addictive disorders. A major objective is to end the artificial
segregation of these individuals from the general health
mainstream. This separation reinforces the isolation and
stigmatization of individuals suffering from addictive disorders
or mental illness. The availability of effective research-based
interventions and treatments will foster improved linkages
between psychosocial medicine and the other areas of general
medicine and health care.
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration
Commissioned Corps Personnel Representative
Room 15C12, Parklawn Building
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-9272
E. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL (CDC)
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is the Federal Agency
charged with developing and applying disease prevention and
control, environmental health, and health promotion and
education activities designed to improve the health of the
people of the United States. Several operating programs fulfill
these goals through their indicated activities.
1. Epidemiology Program Office
The Epidemiology Program Office (EPO) is the focal
point for collection, analysis and communication of
data about communicable diseases. The EPO provides
consultation to other Federal agencies, State and
local health departments, international organizations,
and other nations.
2. Public Health Practice Program Office
The Public Health Practice Program Office develops,
implements, and evaluates programs to assess and meet
the needs for increasing the capability of public
health workers and systems to prevent disease and
promote health.
3. The International Health Program Office provides
consultation on epidemiology and surveillance to
international organizations (such asthe World Health
Organization and the Pan American Health Organization)
and othernations. It coordinates the provision
of CDC expertise, resources, and programs to
developing countries to assist in improving disease
prevention and control,environmental health, and
health promotion activities.
4. Center for Prevention Services
The Center for Prevention Services directs a national
program for the prevention, control and eventual
eradication of immunizable diseases, sexually
transmittable diseases, dental disease, diabetes and
tuberculosis. This Center also administers
a quarantine program to protect the United States
against importation of diseases from other nations.
5. Center for Environmental Health and lnjury Control
The Center for Environmental Health and Injury Control
directs a national program to maintain and improve the
health of the American people by promoting a healthy
environment and by preventing premature death and
avoidable illness and disability caused by
non-infectious, non-occupational, environmental and
related factors.
6. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health plans and directs the national program to
develop and establish recommended occupational safety
and health standards in the workplace. The Institute
administers research in the field of occupational
safety and health and develops innovative methods and
approaches for dealing with related problems.
7. Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion
The Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion directs a national program for the
prevention of premature mortality, morbidity, and
disability due to chronic illnesses and conditions and
promotes the overall health of the population.
8. Center for Infectious Diseases
The Center for Infectious Diseases directs a national
program to improve the identification, investigation,
diagnosis, prevention, and control of infectious
diseases. The Center provides epidemic aid nationally
as well as to foreign nations.
9. National Center for Health Statistics
The National Center for Health Statistics provides
national leadership in health statistics and
epidemiology by collecting, analyzing and
disseminating national health statistics on
vital events and health activities.
Centers for Disease Control
Personnel Management Branch
Commissioned Corps Section
Bldg. #1, Rm. 1042
600 Clifton Road, N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30333
Telephone: FTS 236-3276
404-639-3276
F. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA)
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a regulatory
Agency which protects the public health by ensuring that
foods, drugs, biological products,cosmetics, medical
devices, ionizing and nonionizing radiation-emitting
products and substances, poisons, pesticides, and food
additives are safe for human and animal use.
1. Center for Devices and Radiological Health
This Center's role is to protect the public health by
assuring that medical devices are safe and effective
for use and by preventing unnecessary human exposure
to radiation from electronic products. This Center is
responsible for:
regulatory compliance and surveillance programs
relating to medical devices and
radiation-emitting electronic products;
premarket approval applications, product
development protocols, exemption
requests for investigational devices, and
premarket notifications for medical
devices;
performance standards for radiation-emitting
electronic products and medical devices, and
Good Manufacturing regulations;
technical assistance to small manufacturers of
medical devices;
training and educational programs relating to
medical devices and radiological health; and
planning, conducting, and supporting research
and testing to provide the
scientific and technological base required for
risk assessment, evaluation, compliance, and
performance standards development relating to
medical devices and radiation-emitting
electronic products.
2. Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
This Center's function is to ensure the safety,
potency, purity, and effectiveness of biological
products used for the prevention,diagnosis, and
treatment of disease. This Center is responsible for:
policy activities, research, diagnostic tests and
vaccines for the Agency's Acquired Immunodeficiency
Syndrome (AIDS) program;
safety and effectiveness of biological products before
marketing and preclinical and clinical testing of new
biological products;
biological product and manufacturing establishment
licensing;
product standards and improved testing methods;
premarketing potency and safety tests of licensed
products;
compliance of licensed and unlicensed establishments
with Good Manufacturing Practices; and
standards and regulatory actions for biological
products.
3. Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
This Center ensures that all drug products used for the
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of human disease are
safe and effective and that information on proper use is
available to all users. The Center is responsible for:
ensuring the safety and effectiveness, of drug
products for human use;
evaluating new drug applications and investigating new
drug applications;
regulation and surveillance of therapeutic drug
products being developed for AIDS and AIDS-related
diseases;
standards for the safety and effectiveness of
over-the-counter drugs;
testing, surveillance, and compliance of marketed drug
products;
drug industry guidelines on current Good Manufacturing
Practices and registration of regulated manufacturing
establishments;
enforcement of labeling standards and prescription
drug advertising;
standards on the composition, quality, safety, and
effectiveness of human drugs;
and
methadone treatment programs.
4. National Center for Toxicological Research
This Center is an interagency toxicological research
facility primarily dedicated to the scientific programs
within FDA, but also performs studies of common interest
for other Government agencies. As part of the effort to
solve public health problems caused by toxic chemicals,
this Center has the lead responsibility in FDA for risk
assessment research to determine the:
biological effects of potentially toxic chemicals and
the mechanisms of toxic actions of chemicals;
biochemical procedures involved in detecting the
formation of birth defects, genetic alterations, and
cancers in animal models and tissues;
nature and role of specific biochemical detoxification
pathways;
relationship of specific types of DNA damage to their
biological effect;
specific genes affected by specific chemicals;
measurement of the effects of variable doses of toxic
agents in animals;
5. The Center for Veterinary Science
This Center ensures that veterinary drugs used for animals are
safe and effective and that food from these animals is safe
for human consumption. The Center also ensures the safe and
proper use of drugs in animal feeds. Responsibilities of this
Center include:
developing and recommending veterinary medical
policy of the Agency with respect to the safety
and effectiveness of animal drugs, feeds, feed
additives, veterinary medical devices (medical
devices for animal use), and other veterinary
medical products;
evaluating animal safety and effectiveness, pre-
and post-marketed animal drugs and feed
additives as well as veterinary medical devices;
coordinating the veterinary medical aspects of
Agency inspectional and investigational programs
and providing veterinary medical opinions in
drug hearings and court cases;
planning, directing, and evaluating the Agency's
surveillance and compliance programs relating to
animal drugs, feeds, feed additives, veterinary
medical devices, and other veterinary medical
products;
providing policy development and direction on
environmental impact matters in cooperation with
other Agency components; and conducting
industry education and information programs.
6. Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition
This Center promotes and protects the public health by
ensuring that foods are safe, sanitary, nutritious,
and wholesome; and that cosmetic products are safe for
consumers to use. Responsibilities of this Center
are:
food establishment inspections and food sample
analysis;
identification of harmful agents in foods;
pesticide and chemical contaminant monitoring in
the food supply;
technical assistance and training to State and
local food safety programs;
standards for food which ensure identity and
quality; and
safety of cosmetics and hazardous ingredient
identification in cosmetics.
Food and Drug Administration
Division of Human Resource Management
Room 4B-17
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-2234
G. HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINISTRATION (HRSA) (10/92)
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) was
formed September 1, 1982. HRSA consists of four bureaus:
Bureau of Primary Health Care, Maternal and Child Health
Bureau, Bureau of Health Resources Development, and Bureau
of Health Professions.
1. Bureau of Primary Health Care
This Bureau serves as a national focus for efforts to
assure the delivery of health care to residents of
medically underserved areas and to persons with
special health care needs. It provides support for
prevention-oriented primary care services to
underserved populations through community health
centers. Migrant and seasonal farm workers and
their families are provided primary health services
through the migrant health program. To improve access
to health care in health manpower shortage areas, the
Bureau assists States and communities in the placement
of physicians, dentists and other health
professionals through the National Health Service
Corps (NHSC).
An adequate supply of health care providers for
placement in underserved areas is assured through the
NHSC scholarship program and the NHSC loan repayment
program. Through grants or contracts to public and
privateentities, the Bureau provides funds to
help meet the needs of high risk populations with
special needs such as the homeless, black lung disease
victims and elderly persons in need of home health
services. Through its Comprehensive Perinatal Care
program, the Bureau provides case-managed
coordinated services to pregnant women and after
delivery to their infants during the first year of
life. The Bureau also provides leadership for the
national Hansen's Disease program; and promotes
comprehensive occupational health programs within
Federal agencies.
In carrying out its health care delivery goals, the
Bureau has developed effective partnerships with State
and local governments and the private sector, assuring
access to high quality primary care services to the
maximum number of medically underserved.
Special concern is given to addressing the health
problems of the homeless, AIDS sufferers, substance
abusers and other new morbidity or special groups that
emerge.
2. Maternal and Child Health Bureau
The Bureau develops, administers and supports Federal
policy and programs for maternal and child health, and
activities related to Pediatric AIDS. It serves as
the major Federal contact point for State and local
governments and voluntary organizations concerned with
maternal and child health. It administers a block
grant program to States to improve the health of
mothers, infants, children (including children with
special health care needs) and youths. It supports
special projects in maternal and child health research
training, genetic diseases, health services
improvement and hemophilia diagnosis and treatment.
3. Bureau of Health Resources Development
This Bureau monitors Hill-Burton health care
facilities' compliance with their obligations to
provide free care to indigent patients and seeks to
recover Federal funds when these facilities change to
ineligible ownership or use. The program administers
the Housing and Urban Development section 242 mortgage
insurance program which insures loans to hospitals for
construction projects.
The Bureau conducts public information programs on the
need for organ donation and supports the development
and expansion of organ procurement organizations. It
supports the operation of the national network of
transplant hospitals, organ procurement
organizations, and tissue typing laboratories; and the
establishment of a nationwide scientific registry of
transplant recipients.
BHRD administers many of the Agency's programs dealing with
the delivery of health services to persons with AIDS. It
supports projects that demonstrate cost-effective and
community-based services to AIDS patients, and construction
of non-acute and intermediate and long-term care facilities
for AIDS patients.
3. Bureau of Health Professions
The Bureau provides leadership in supporting the
development and use of the Nation's health personnel.
As a focus for health care quality assurance
activities, the Bureau implemented a National
Practitioner Data Bank, which contains information on
adverse actions taken against health practitioners.
The Bureau supports health professions and
nurse training institutions, targeting resources to
areas of high national priority such as
disease prevention, health promotion, nursing and
care of the elderly. It funds regional
centers that provide educational services and
multidisciplinary training for health
professions faculty and practitioners in geriatric
health care. The Bureau supports programs to increase
the supply of primary care practitioners and to
improve the distribution of health professionals. It
develops, tests and demonstrates new and improved
approaches to the development and utilization of
health personnel within various patterns of health
care delivery and financing systems. Financially
needy students are assisted in pursuit of health
careers. It funds programs designed to assure
equity in access to health services and health careers
for the disadvantaged. It supports efforts to
increase the number of disadvantaged and
under represented minority individuals who become
health or allied health professionals.
The Bureau provides technical and financial assistance
to national, State and local agencies and
organizations for the development, production,
utilization and evaluation of health personnel. It
collects and analyzes data and diseminates information
on the characteristics and capacities of U.S. health
training systems. It assesses the Nation's health
personnel force and forecasts supply and requirements
under a variety of utilization strategies. The Bureau
administers a regional education and training center
program that provides multidisciplinary training for
primary health care providers in the care of people
with AIDS. It also reviews claims for the childhood
vaccine injury compensation program.
Health Resources and Services Administration
Commissioned Corps Management and Policy Staff
Room 14A-31, Parklawn Building
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-2741
H. INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE (IHS)
American Indians and Alaska Natives, like other citizens,
benefit from public health programs intended to improve
health care for all Americans. Members of federally
recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Natives are eligible
for health services provided by the Indian Health Service,
an Agency of the U.S. Public Health Service. The Federal
Government's responsibility for the approximately one
million American Indians and Alaska Natives has a long
history dating from 1784 and is further enhanced by laws
enacted by the Congress.
There are more than 500 federally recognized tribes whose
members live on reservations and communities in 32 States,
mostly in the Western U.S. and Alaska. These people have
retained much of their traditional culture. Some,
especially among the elderly, still speak their native
dialects and understand little English. Indian people are
among the most impoverished in the U.S. and often survive,
without basic necessities such as good nutrition and safe
water supplies, in isolated reservation areas in which
climatic conditions are harsh and transportation is
difficult.
Although substantial progress has been made in combating
infectious diseases, numerous health-related problems
continue to exist in high proportion among American Indians
and Alaska Natives. Some of the most serious are injuries,
alcoholism, ear infections, nutritional deficiencies and
poor dental health.
The IHS operates a comprehensive health services delivery
system for American Indians and Alaska Natives striving for
maximum tribal involvement in meeting their health needs.
The IHS goal is to raise the health level of the American
Indian and Alaska Native people to the highest possible
level. To achieve this goal the IHS has three main
objectives: 1) deliver high quality health services,
including hospital, ambulatory, preventive and
rehabilitative care, and the construction of community
sanitation facilities, 2) assist tribes and Native
Corporations to develop their capacity to staff and manage
their health programs, and 3) act as the primary
Federal advocate for Indian health matters. Within this
role the IHS assists tribes in identifying, obtaining and
using health resources available through Federal, State and
local programs. The provision of health care is
accomplished through a Federal-Tribal partnership with the
common goal of improving Indian health status.
Indian Health Service
Commissioned Corps Management Branch
Rm. 6A-25, Parklawn Building
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857
Telephone: FTS/301-443-3464
I. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)
The mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is
to improve the health of the Nation through its
multifaceted research programs. It maintains a 540-bed
clinical research facility, hundreds of laboratories and
the 3,000,000-volume National Library of Medicine. In
addition to conducting research into causes of diseases,
the NIH provides training for personnel to conduct
research, and provides information to physicians and allied
health professionals to assist them in bringing the results
of research into practice. The NIH awards research and
training grants and fellowships to support scientific
activities of universities, medical schools, hospitals, and
other nonprofit research and teaching institutions. The
following Institutes and Divisions constitute this Agency:
National Cancer Institute
National Center for Human Genome Research
National Center for Nursing Research
National Center for Research Resources
National Eye Institute
National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and
Skin Diseases
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and
Kidney Disease
National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke
National Institute on Deafness and other Communication
Disorders
National Institute on Aging
Division of Research Grants
Division of Computer Research and Technology
The Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center
National Library of Medicine
Fogarty lnternational Center
All of these Institutes and Divisions are located in
Bethesda, Maryland, with the exception of the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, which is at
Research Triangle, North Carolina. A part of the intramural
research program of the National Institute on Aging is
located at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center. In
addition, some Institutes maintain satellite activities
outside the main Bethesda location.
Commissioned officers in all health professional
disciplines are assigned to NIH, within the intramural
laboratory and clinical research programs, as extramural
grant and contract
administrators, and in other management positions in
support of its research mission.
National Institutes of Health
Commissioned Officers Unit
Bldg. 31, Rm. B3C23
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20205
Telephone: 301-496-4212
J. OUTSIDE PHS
Commissioned officers are also assigned to certain agencies
outside PHS, to help meet their health professional
staffing needs. Officers are often detailed to the Agency
for International Development, the World Health
Organization, the Pan-American Health Organization, the
Peace Corps and the Department of Defense as well as the
following program areas:
1. Health Care Financing Administration
The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), a
major component of HHS, brings together under one
Agency, the management of the Medicare program,
Federal participation in the Medicaid program, the
Peer ReviewOrganization program, and a
variety of other health care quality assurance
activities. The HCFA strives to promote the timely
delivery of appropriate quality health care to its
beneficiaries, and to ensure that those beneficiaries
are aware of the services for which they are eligible.
In addition to management activities, the HCFA
supports research focusing on efforts to control the
rising cost of health care, including new methods of
paying for and delivering health care services to
Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, improvements in
hospital utilization, health care data collection
systems, and the reduction of red tape in health care
delivery.
The staff at the HCFA range from those with health
care backgrounds to management generalists,
accountants, and computer programmers, working
together to promote efficiency and quality within the
total health care delivery system.
Health Care Financing Administration
Commissioned Personnel Section Staffing and Services
Branch
Room G-59, East High Rise Building
6325 Security Boulevard
Baltimore MD 21207
Telephone: 301-966-5507
FTS 646-5507
2. Coast Guard
The Coast Guard is a component of the Department of
Transportation. Through the Bureau of Health Care
Delivery and Assistance, HRSA, PHS commissioned
officers provide direct health care to over 150,000
active duty, dependent, and retired Coast Guard
personnel. This program delivers tpatient family
oriented primary care in 31 shore-based medical and
dental facilities. The Coast Guard uses primarily
physicians, dentists, and pharmacists which are
supported by Coast Guard health service technicians,
physician assistants and administrators. The majority
of physicians assigned to the Coast Guard have
specialty training in family practice, flight
medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics or psychiatry.
Opportunities exist for residencies in family practice
medicine funded by the Coast Guard Health and Safety
Program.
COAST GUARD: Commandant (GKOM)
U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters
2100 Second Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20593-0001
Telephone: FTS/202-267-0748
3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
responsible for implementing the Federal laws designed to
protect human health and the environment. The EPA
endeavors to accomplish its mission systematically by
proper integration of a variety of research, monitoring,
standard-setting, and enforcement activities. As a
complement to its other activities, EPA coordinates and
supports research and anti-pollution activities of
State and local governments, private and public groups,
individuals and educationalinstitutions. The EPA also
monitors the operations of other Federal agencies with
respect to their impact on the environment.
The EPA is divided into the following programs: Research
and Development, Air and Radiation, Solid Waste and
Emergency Response, Water, Pesticides and Toxic
Substances, and Enforcement and Compliance. EPA's
headquarters are in Washington, D.C., with regional
offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas
City, Now York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.
The Agency's major research centers are in Las Vegas,
Nevada; Cincinnati, Ohio; Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina; Edison, New Jersey; Ada, Oklahoma; and Corvallis,
Oregon.
Environmental Protection Agency
Personnel Management Division
Room 2827, Waterside Mall
401 M Street, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20460
Telephone: FTS/202-382-5651
4. Federal Bureau of Prisons
The mission of the Bureau of Prisons, a component of the
Department of Justice, is to protect society, by carrying
out the judgments of the Federal courts through providing
confinement services to committed offenders. This
other sentencing options available to Federal judges.
The Bureau's Health Services Division utilizes officers in
10 of the 11 categories of PHS Officers, and is responsible
for all inmate health care services, food and farm
services, environmental health, safety and sanitary
services.
Bureau of Prisons
Commissioned Officer Personnel Unit
320 First Street, N.W.
Room 1000
Washington, D.C. 20534
Telephone: FTS/202-724-3393