Division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Public Health Service</span>

United States Public Health Service

<p>The <b>United States Public Health Service</b> (<b>USPHS</b> or <b>PHS</b>) is a collection of agencies of the <a href="/en/Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services" title="Department of Health and Human Services" class="mw-redirect wl">Department of Health and Human Services</a> concerned with <a href="/en/Public_health" title="Public health" class="wl">public health</a>, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The <a href="/en/Assistant_Secretary_for_Health" title="Assistant Secretary for Health" class="wl">Assistant Secretary for Health</a> oversees the PHS. The <a href="/en/United_States_Public_Health_Service_Commissioned_Corps" title="United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps" class="wl">Public Health Service Commissioned Corps</a> (PHSCC) is the federal uniformed service of the PHS, and is one of the eight <a href="/en/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States" title="Uniformed services of the United States" class="wl">uniformed services of the United States</a>.</p>

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health</div>
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<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1066479718" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}</style><div class='mobile-collapse'><header class="mobile-collapse-header mobile-collapse-btn"><b>Quick facts: Agency overview, Formed, Jurisdiction, Headqu...</b> <span class='arrow'>▼</span></header> <table class="infobox mobile-collapse-element"><caption class="infobox-title" style="font-size: 125%;">United States Public Health Service</caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:United_States_Public_Health_Service_(seal).svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:United_States_Public_Health_Service_(seal).svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg/220px-United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="327" data-file-height="319" data-file-type="drawing" height="215" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg/330px-United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg/440px-United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg.png 2x" alt="United_States_Public_Health_Service_%28seal%29.svg"></a></span><div class="infobox-caption">Logo of the United States<br>Public Health Service</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data"><span class="mw-default-size"><a href="/en/File:Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg/220px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="760" data-file-height="400" data-file-type="drawing" height="116" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg/330px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg/440px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg.png 2x" alt="Flag_of_the_United_States_Public_Health_Service.svg"></a></span><br>Flag of the U.S. Public Health Service</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2" class="infobox-header notheme" style="background-color: #efefef">Agency overview</th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Formed</th><td class="infobox-data">1798<span class="noprint"><span>;</span><span> </span>225<span>&nbsp;</span>years ago</span><span style="display:none"><span>&nbsp;</span>(<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1798</span>)</span><br>(reorganized/renamed: 1871/1902/1912)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Jurisdiction</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Federal_government_of_the_United_States" title="Federal government of the United States" class="wl">Federal government of the United States</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Headquarters</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Hubert_H._Humphrey_Building" title="Hubert H. Humphrey Building" class="wl">Hubert H. Humphrey Building</a><br><a href="/en/Washington,_D.C." title="Washington, D.C." class="wl">Washington, D.C.</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Agency executive</th><td class="infobox-data"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1126788409" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0}</style><div class="plainlist"><ul><li style="text-indent: -1em; padding-left: 1em;">Admiral <a href="/en/Rachel_Levine" title="Rachel Levine" class="wl">Rachel Levine</a>, MD, <a href="/en/Assistant_Secretary_for_Health" title="Assistant Secretary for Health" class="wl">Assistant Secretary for Health</a></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Parent agency</th><td class="infobox-data"><a href="/en/Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services" title="Department of Health and Human Services" class="mw-redirect wl">Department of Health and Human Services</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Website</th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="mw:ExtLink nofollow" href="https://www.hhs.gov/ash" class="external free" target="_blank">https://www.hhs.gov/ash</a></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-full-data">"Public Health Service March"<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-1"><a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span><span class="mw-default-size mw-default-audio-height"><span><div class='audio-player' title='"Public Health Service March", performed by the United States Coast Guard Band'><audio controls="" preload="none" height="32" width="220" resource="./File:&quot;Public_Health_Service_March&quot;,_performed_by_the_United_States_Coast_Guard_Band.oga"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/%22Public_Health_Service_March%22%2C_performed_by_the_United_States_Coast_Guard_Band.oga" type="audio/ogg; codecs=&quot;vorbis&quot;" data-title="Original Ogg file (398 kbps)" data-shorttitle="Ogg source"><source src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/b/b4/%22Public_Health_Service_March%22%2C_performed_by_the_United_States_Coast_Guard_Band.oga/%22Public_Health_Service_March%22%2C_performed_by_the_United_States_Coast_Guard_Band.oga.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" data-title="MP3" data-shorttitle="MP3"><track kind="subtitles" type="text/vtt" src="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=timedtext&amp;title=File%3A%22Public_Health_Service_March%22%2C_performed_by_the_United_States_Coast_Guard_Band.oga&amp;lang=en&amp;trackformat=vtt&amp;origin=%2A" srclang="en" label="English ‪(en)‬" data-mwtitle="" data-dir="ltr"></audio></div></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table> <footer class='mobile-collapse-footer mobile-collapse-btn'><b>Close</b> <span class='arrow'>▲</span></footer></div>

<p>PHS had its origins in <a href="/en/List_of_U.S._Marine_Hospitals" title="List of U.S. Marine Hospitals" class="wl">the system of marine hospitals</a> that originated in 1798. In 1871 these were consolidated into the <a href="/en/Marine_Hospital_Service" title="Marine Hospital Service" class="wl">Marine Hospital Service</a>, and shortly afterwards the position of <a href="/en/Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States" title="Surgeon General of the United States" class="wl">Surgeon General</a> and the PHSCC were established.  As the system's scope grew to include quarantine authority and research, it was renamed the Public Health Service in 1912.  </p>

<p>A <a href="/en/United_States_Public_Health_Service_reorganizations_of_1966–1973" title="United States Public Health Service reorganizations of 1966–1973" class="mw-redirect wl">series of reorganizations in 1966–1973</a> began a shift where PHS' divisions were promoted into departmental operating agencies. PHS was established as a thin layer of hierarchy above them rather than an operating agency in its own right.  </p>

<p>In 1995, PHS agencies were shifted to report directly to the <a href="/en/United_States_Secretary_of_Health_and_Human_Services" title="United States Secretary of Health and Human Services" class="wl">Secretary of Health and Human Services</a> rather the Assistant Secretary for Health, eliminating PHS as an administrative level in the organizational hierarchy.</p>



The United States Public Health Service is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services concerned with public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The Assistant Secretary for Health oversees the PHS. The Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is the federal uniformed service of the PHS, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. PHS had its origins in the system of marine hospitals that originated in 1798. In 1871 these were consolidated into the Marine Hospital Service, and shortly afterwards the position of Surgeon General and the PHSCC were established.  As the system's scope grew to include quarantine authority and research, it was renamed the Public Health Service in 1912.   