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United States Public Health Service
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<p>The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the <a href="/facts/Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services/eS90vYmd">Department of Health and Human Services</a> which manages <a href="/facts/Public_health/4563Kre9">public health</a>, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The <a href="/facts/Assistant_Secretary_for_Health/rvRSCGGS">assistant secretary for health</a> oversees the PHS. The <a href="/facts/United_States_Public_Health_Service_Commissioned_Corps/QfvmogN2">Public Health Service Commissioned Corps</a> (PHSCC) is the federal uniformed service of the PHS, and is one of the eight <a href="/facts/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States/yC4lHIEB">uniformed services of the United States</a>. </p><p>PHS had its origins in <a href="/facts/List_of_U.S._Marine_Hospitals/8N0pYd82">the system of marine hospitals</a> that originated in 1798. In 1871, these were consolidated into the <a href="/facts/Marine_Hospital_Service/zYSE1uTF">Marine Hospital Service</a>, and shortly afterwards the position of <a href="/facts/Surgeon_General_of_the_United_States/kgrG0URc">Surgeon General</a> and the PHSCC were established. As the system's scope grew to include quarantine authority and research, it was renamed the Public Health Service in 1912. </p><p>A <a href="/facts/United_States_Public_Health_Service_reorganizations_of_1966%25E2%2580%25931973/HqI9CtRy">series of reorganizations in 1966–1973</a> began a shift where PHS' divisions were promoted into departmental operating agencies. PHS was established as a thin layer of hierarchy above them rather than an operating agency in its own right. </p><p>In 1995, PHS agencies were shifted to report directly to the <a href="/facts/United_States_Secretary_of_Health_and_Human_Services/JEP414sF">secretary of health and human services</a> rather the assistant secretary for health, eliminating PHS as an administrative level in the organizational hierarchy. </p>