HHS Staff for Board and Care Issues

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO commented on the number of individuals within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) involved with issues related to board and care homes for the elderly. GAO noted that: (1) the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation leads HHS involvement in board and care issues; (2) HHS devotes few staff to board and care issues, and there are no full-time positions dedicated to such issues; (3) HHS staff in eight units have indirect involvement with issues related to board and care homes, but GAO could not estimate the staff time spent on those indirect activities; and (4) HHS is establishing a task force to coordinate board and care issues between the eight units, but it has not established a timetable for implementing the task force.