Health Resources and Services Administration HRSA

The Health Resources and Services Administration was formed in 1982 by merging two Public Health Service agencies, one that funded health services and one that supported the health workforce. Several of its programs are older, including maternal and child health grants under the Social Security Act of 1935 and community health centers, which began as War on Poverty projects in 1965. It is led by an Administrator.

HRSA funds roughly 1,400 community health centers that serve about 31 million patients a year regardless of ability to pay, many in rural areas and poor urban neighborhoods. It runs the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, created in 1990, the National Health Service Corps, which repays loans for clinicians who work in shortage areas, maternal and child health block grants, and the organ transplant network oversight. It also administers the 340B program, which requires drug makers to give discounts to hospitals and clinics serving low-income patients, and the federal vaccine injury compensation program.

The 340B program has grown into one of the largest federal drug programs, and drug makers, hospitals, and pharmacies are locked in disputes over its scope, contract pharmacies, and how savings are used. The March 2025 HHS reorganization proposed folding HRSA into a new Administration for a Healthy America. Supporters said combining agencies would streamline programs, while health center advocates and lawmakers of both parties stressed that the centers depend on stable federal funding.