By Charles Young, WV News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The current West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources will cease to exist Jan. 1, and will be replaced with three new separate entities.
In the first overhaul of the DHHR’s organizational structure since the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services were merged in 1989, the agency will be divided into the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services and the Department of Health Care Facilities.
“In 20 short days, we will be three departments that we envisioned and have been working towards,” said Dr. Sherri Young, interim DHHR Cabinet secretary during a recent meeting of the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability.
Young will serve as secretary of the Department of Health following the transition; Dr. Cynthia Persily will serve as secretary of the Department of Human Services; and Michael Caruso will serve as secretary of the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities.
Persily described her vision for the three new agencies during her initial appearance before the Oversight Commission in August.
“We’re really looking at how we can streamline the services that we provide,” she said. “So, we’re looking at restructuring some of the services that we provide so that we can be the most efficient and effective as we break into the three departments with an office of shared administration.”
