Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, shown here at an August 2023 event, announced a restructuring of tech-related roles and responsibilities at HHS. Alex Wong/Getty Images
HHS reorg seeks to streamline tech and cyber policy
A new assistant secretary post will consolidate management of technology, data, AI and health IT.
The Department of Health and Human Services is restructuring its operations to more effectively prioritize the use of digital and emerging capabilities, including artificial intelligence.
The department’s technology and data strategy approaches have traditionally been determined by three offices: the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; the Assistant Secretary for Administration; and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
Since “opportunities in data and technology in healthcare and human services have grown significantly in recent years,” HHS determined that the tech-centric work of these offices needed to be integrated more fully into one component organization, according to a Thursday press release.
HHS said that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will be renamed the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
National Coordinator Micky Tripathi — who has been serving as acting chief artificial intelligence officer — will lead the new, consolidated office as the assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for health information technology.
This new office will take over oversight of HHS’s “technology, data, and AI policy and strategy,” including the department’s chief data officer and chief AI officer roles. Additionally, HHS will reinstate the former chief technology officer position and place it under the authority of the restructured agency, as well as establishing a new Office of Digital Services within the merged component.
HHS said that the reorganization would “clarify and consolidate” its components’ functions when it comes to strategy and policy decisions around the use of technology, cybersecurity, data and AI. The department is also looking to hire a permanent CAIO, as well as a chief technology officer and a chief data officer.
The HHS announcement doesn't make any mention of the agency's chief information officer. According to the HHS website, that role still reports to the assistant secretary for management.
“For decades, HHS has worked across the organization to ensure appropriate and safe use of technology, data, and AI to advance the health and well-being of the American people,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “This reorganization builds on that success and prepares the Department for the challenges that lie ahead.”
President Joe Biden’s October 2023 executive order on the safe, secure and trustworthy use of AI also mandated, in part, that federal agencies designate an official to serve as their chief AI officer, or CAIO.
HHS also said that public-private cybersecurity partnership efforts would become the responsibility of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which oversees other cyber-related health activities to advance “the department’s one-stop-shop approach to healthcare cybersecurity.”