U.S. Government Agencies
Regulatory healthcare power is shared among federal and state governments. State governments have a dominant role of regulating constituents in their jurisdiction. To ensure success in this regulatory process, state governments also developed local government levels to provide direct services to constituents and regulate their geographic region. Legislatures establish the legal framework for state and local governmental authority ( Jonas, 2003 ).
Important Federal Government Agencies
Many federal agencies are responsible for a sector of healthcare. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the most important federal agency. It is a cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the federal government. The Secretary of the HHS provides advice to the President of the United States regarding health and human services policy ( Pozgar, 2014 ). HHS collaborates with state and local governments because many HHS services are provided at those levels. There are 11 operating divisions: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , the Administration for Community Living (ACL) , the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) , the Indian Health Service (IHS) , the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) , the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) , the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) , the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) , and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) . Each of these agencies will be discussed individually ( HHS, 2016 ).