Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

Under the state Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is a human services organization (Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). After the Health Services Administration and the Health Resources Administration amalgamated, HRSA was established in 1982. Nevertheless, the distinct organizations had been helping Americans since 1943. (HRSA, 2017). The HRSA’s main objective is to provide health care services to persons who are economically or medically fragile as well as to those who are geographically separated from the rest of society.

The office of the administrator is in charge of the HRSA organization. The office manager is the overseer of all the mini offices and bureaus that the organization has (HRSA, 2017). The office of the director comprises of the Administrator, the deputy administrator, senior health advisor and the chief public health officer. Following in command are the offices and bureaus. HRSA as an organization consists of ten offices and six agencies (HRSA, 2017).

The HRSA’s advisory committee’s role is to make recommendations on what concerns the organization’s programs, activities of the health department and human services. The advisory committees are governed by The Federal Advisory Committee Act (HRSA, 2017). The board is structured such that the public is informed of its purpose, activities and its members.

There is an Office of The Human Resource at HRSA. This office is the one that is entirely responsible for the staff recruitment and training exercises. The human resource offices are the one that also recruits volunteers at the local level. Usually, the vacancies are often published on their websites to enable people to participate

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is an international organization that works under the Health and Human Services Department (Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). CDC aim is to protect America from all kinds of health threats from foreign countries and also within the borders of America. The role of CDC is to detect and respond to emerging threats in the health sector, fighting chronic health dilemmas, disease prevention and also to promote healthy and safe behaviors, communities and environment (CDC, 2017). CDC Started as the Communicable Disease Center on July 1946. Its primary focus was to curb the spread of Malaria across the nation. The organization was founded by Dr. Joseph Mountin; he advocated for the organization to further its studies to include other communicable diseases. Currently, CDC is recognized worldwide as a global center for health research and investigations.

The CDC has a complex organizational structure. First, the organization is headed by a director and assisted by the principal deputy directors. These two overall managers are supported by several departmental leaders. The CDC has nine departments that immediately follow the director and the principal deputy director, altogether the nine directors for different programs and the overall director belong to the executive office (CDC, 2017). After these directors, there are several other heads of departments who are the second level of directors. These level of hierarchy head different program offices in the country. Their functions are more devolved as compared to the first level directors (CDC, 2017).

The federal Advisory committee Act governs the CDC committee. The Act is the one that dictates its formation and its functions. The federal contributions made at the highest level consists of committees headed by the president of the United States, the Congress, and the General Services Administrator. At the CDC level, the advisory committee is under the Management Analysis and Services Office (CDC, 2017). At the moment there are twenty-four Federal Advisory Committees that provide recommendations towards various matters to enable the organization to perform its tasks efficiently.

CDC has a complex system of hiring. It involves a four-stage process. The process includes the assessment phase, recruitment phase, action and later the evaluation phase. The organization usually releases a hiring calendar that indicates the vacant position, where it is located and the deadline for submission of applications.

Comparison between HRSA and CDC

The two organizations, HRSA and CDC, both deal with healthcare issues. While HRSA deals with providing health care to people who are economically challenged and geographically isolated from medical services. While the HRSA is concerned with the healthcare provision for the country, the CDC has extended its borders to a global scale.

The HRSA recruitment process is a simple process where the vacancies are advertised on the organization’s website the candidates who are shortlisted are then interviewed and also hired there are graduate and volunteer programs. On the other hand, the recruitment process at CDC is very complicated and involves four phases. The organizational structure at HRSA is headed by a senior administrator and followed in the hierarchy by offices and bureaus, contrary the CDC has a very complex structure with an overall director and several other directors who are national, departmental heads following in hierarchy.

Both organizations have the same act, the Federal Advisory Committee Act, governing the functioning and the member composition of the committees. However, CDC due to its structure and its scope of work, it has twenty fours advisory committees giving recommendations on various issues while HRSA has only one committee. The CDC also has the overall advisory committee which the Congress, the president of the United States and the General Service Administrator oversee.

References

CDC. (2017, September 25). About CDC. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website: https://www.cdc.gov/about/default.htm

Department of Health and Human Services. (2015, October 27). HHS Agencies and Offices. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from Health and Human Services Website: https://www.hhs.gov/about/agencies/hhs-agencies-and-offices/index.html

HRSA. (2017, May). About HRSA. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from HRSA website: https://www.hrsa.gov/about/index.html

HRSA. (2017, March). Advisory Committees. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from HRSA Website: https://www.hrsa.gov/about/organization/committees.html