IT Reorganizations at Major Federal Health Agencies

Last July, the Department of Health and Human Services reorganized its IT shop to align technology functions and policies. These three aspects make up the recent HHS reorganization:

• The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) renamed with a dual title as the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator (ASTP/ONC).
• Enterprise technology, data and AI policy oversight (including the HHS CTO, CDO and CAIO) will shift from the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA) to the newly titled ASTP/ONC division.
• HHS’ cyber program, 405(d) will move to ASA to Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which houses other health sector cybersecurity activities for the department.

The ASTP/ONC office, per HHS, will create and manage an Office of the CTO. This office will supervise the Office of the CDO, the Office of the CAIO, and a newly established Office of Digital Services. The reorganization keeps department-wide data and technology operations separate from those specific to HHS component agencies such as CMS, NIH, FDA and CDC. HHS named Micky Tripathi to lead the expanded ASTP/ONC. According to Tripathi, the reorganization addresses the increase in both policy and operations related to data and technology, which are becoming essential for the department's mission.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, another federal health-oriented mission agency, also faced some reorganization of technology components earlier this year. Under the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) at VA is the new Digital Health Office (DHO). The DHO consolidates various components under the VHA including, connected care, population health, health informatics, the strategic initiatives laboratory and AI programs.

The recent reorganizations within these agencies underscore the growing importance of streamlining technology in the healthcare sector in several areas.

Emerging technologies such as AI and advanced analytics have gained tremendous agency attention. The healthcare sector is utilizing these to improve patient care, support health research, and enhance evidence-based decision-making. However, agencies must implement effective data governance practices to overcome data silos, enhance interoperability and accessibility to use technologies such as AI and reduce the risk of bias.  Additionally, the reorganizations reflect the fact that agencies are optimizing IT operations by aligning policies and strategies in areas like data and AI to establish clear priorities and strategic objectives for technology implementation.

Up next at HHS and the VA is to fill key leadership roles in the new organizations and the release of new strategies (i.e. the forthcoming HHS AI strategy).

A quick data pull from GovWin’s Federal Spending Analytics Search shows that IT spending grew at both HHS and the VA from FY 2021-2023:

Sources: Deltek, FPDS

Note that the decrease in spending in FY 2023 at the VA is almost exclusively due to the paused deployment of the department’s EHR system rather than a change in agency IT priorities. The totals in the chart represent all IT spending (services, hardware, software) across each department, including component agencies. Regardless, there is no denying technology’s growing role and need at federal agencies, particularly those part of the health sector.

As the technology landscape continues to evolve, it will be no surprise to see a more IT reorganizations such as these to align department strategies and operations to meet the critical need technology plays at federal agencies.