LibGuides: Health Law Research Guide: U. S. Government Websites

U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the principal federal agency for protecting the health of Americans. It is comprised of the Office of the Secretary and 11 subagencies. The HHS family of agencies oversees a wide variety of tasks and services, including research, public health, food and drug safety, grants and other funding, health insurance, and many others.

Department of Health and Human Services
The main page for HHS has links to relevant laws and regulations, information about the structure of HHS, the agency's budget, health news, disease prevention guides, emergency preparedness websites, and other information. This is a good place to start agency-related research.
Office of the Secretary of HHS
The Office of the Secretary of HHS, and its subdivisions, provide direct support for the Secretary's initiatives:
The Office of the General Counsel (OGC)
The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) represents and gives legal advice to the Secretary and HHS agencies.
The Office of Inspector General
The Office of Inspector General is responsible for maintaining the administrative integrity of HHS via program audits, investigations, and inspections.
Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals
The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals administers appeal hearings for the Medicare program.

The 11 other agencies within HHS are:
Administration for Children and Families
Administration on Aging
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Food and Drug Administration
Health Resources and Services Administration
Indian Health Service
National Institutes of Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Other Federal Agencies Related to Health

These federal agencies are not part of HHS, but also have health-related responsibilities, and regulations:

Research Materials on Government Websites

Healthcare.gov
This is a consumer-friendly, government website designed to assist the public with understanding the new federal health care law, and getting services. There is a timeline showing when provisions become effective, a tool for comparing insurance plans available in each state, and descriptions of services covered.
CDC Wonder
WONDER is a menu-driven system that provides access to a wide array of public health information resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WONDER provides access to CDC statistical research data, as well as reference materials, reports, and guidelines on health-related topics. Data sets about mortality (deaths), cancer incidence, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, vaccinations, natality (births), census data and many other topics are available for query, and the requested data can be readily summarized and analyzed, with dynamically calculated statistics, charts and maps.
Congressional Budget Office
From the main page, choose the Topics tab, and link to the CBO Health Care main page. Cost estimate publications and other analyses are available here.
Food Safety
Federal government food safety website.
Government Accountability Office
National Center for Health Statistics
PubMed Central
PubMed Central (PMC) is the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature.
U.S. Census Bureau - American Fact Finder