WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a reorganization of its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the department’s law enforcement agency charged with protecting civil rights, conscience and religious freedom, as well as health information privacy and security.
The new structure aligns with the administration's focus on religious liberty, creating three distinct subject-matter divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.
“This reorganization restores the HHS Civil Rights Division and the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and strengthens the Office for Civil Rights’ ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections and combat unlawful discrimination,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “Under President Trump’s leadership, HHS will defend these rights with clarity, accountability and resolve.”
“This reorganization reinstitutes a structure that rightly prioritizes civil rights and conscience and religious freedom alongside health information privacy and security,” said HHS Office for Civil Rights Director Paula M. Stannard. “All three areas are deserving of subject-matter expertise and distinct senior executive leadership for OCR to best serve the American people.”
During President Trump’s first term, HHS established a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division (CRFD) in OCR in January of 2018 to handle federal enforcement of the nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom. The division, led by a career government executive, also raised public awareness of conscience and religious freedom laws in health and human services, underscoring that violations are serious infractions that transgress basic human dignity and fundamental rights. CRFD operated until March of 2023.
The agency said the new structure will improve OCR’s effectiveness and efficiency, address race-based discrimination and eradicate antisemitism and anti-Christian bias. The intake and processing of complaints filed with OCR and the review of reported breaches of unsecured protected health information will continue to be handled through an enforcement division that supports centralized intake and field office execution. The reorganization is not expected to result in reduction of OCR’s workforce.