The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is the federal government’s principal agency involved
with health care services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) falls within HHS, as does the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which conducts research and programs to protect public
health and safety; the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is responsible for biomedical and health-
related research; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which supports efforts to improve
health care access for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable; and the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which sponsors, conducts, and disseminates research to improve
health care quality and safety.