In Washington, the term “reorganization” is often a euphemism for shuffling boxes, cutting staff, or creating new layers of bureaucracy. But at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we are rebuilding our Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to restore its strength, focus, and strict fidelity to the law, the way Congress intended.
HHS announced on June 28, 2026, that it is returning OCR to a program-based structure and reviving its Conscience and Religious Freedom and Civil Rights Divisions, alongside its Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.
The Trump administration originally established the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division in 2018, but it was eliminated in 2023 under the Biden administration. Now, under President Donald Trump and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s leadership, we are restoring it to its rightful place.
HHS OCR enforces an unusually broad portfolio: multiple federal civil rights nondiscrimination laws; numerous conscience and religious freedom protections; and privacy and security rules that safeguard Americans’ health information. That breadth is a strength — but only if the office is organized effectively.
This reorganization is a management decision grounded in the way OCR’s work distinctly comes in the door. Civil rights complaints, conscience claims, religious freedom matters, HIPAA breaches, and confidentiality of substance use disorder records generally involve different legal authorities, factual development, technical expertise, and remedies. This program-based structure will enhance our ability to proactively execute national policy informed by subject-matter expertise, as well as monitor and quickly respond to unlawful policies arising from states, local jurisdictions, or other regulated entities.
The structure gives each portfolio senior executive leadership, while maintaining a common enforcement process, improving consistency, accountability, and legal sufficiency. It is also a highly effective way to raise public awareness regarding obligations under these laws.
As Director of OCR, I am putting conscience rights at the forefront, alongside civil rights and health information privacy and security. Conscience rights are fundamental legal rights enshrined into law by Congress, and OCR’s duty is to enforce those laws effectively as the Department’s civil rights arm.
Recent cases provide a window into why conscience rights matter.
First, consider an ultrasound technician who may have chosen this profession because she cares about women, believes life begins at conception, and wants to ensure all life is cherished and protected. Now imagine she is told that she must conduct ultrasounds in abortion procedures or risk losing her job.
For her, this is more than “just imaging.” She believes she is being required to participate in the taking of a human life. Recently, OCR initiated a compliance review of a hospital based on allegations that ultrasound technicians faced potential termination because of their religious objections to conducting ultrasounds in abortion procedures.
Those allegations implicate the Church Amendments, one of the conscience statutes that OCR enforces.
Second, consider a nurse who is allegedly fired by a hospital after she requested religious accommodation. She did not want to assist in certain sex-rejecting procedures because of her religious beliefs.
Again, these allegations raise serious compliance questions under conscience authorities, and to address this issue and similar allegations, HHS opened an investigation into a major Michigan health system last year.
Across America, some of the best healthcare and human services are delivered by providers motivated by a deep, faith-based commitment to service. They run hospitals, staff clinics, operate foster care and adoption agencies, implement Head Start programs, and provide elder care. They should be able to serve their community without being punished for the very convictions that call them to serve.
By giving these fundamental rights a dedicated home within OCR, we are sending a clear message: conscience and religious freedom belong at the center of our mission, not on the periphery. We will safeguard these protections at the front end of our work, not as an afterthought once rights have already been burdened.
Simultaneously, we are restoring a dedicated Civil Rights Division to enforce our nation’s nondiscrimination laws exactly as Congress wrote them. The mission of a federal civil rights office is to ensure equal treatment under the law, not to advance evolving ideological agendas. Enforcement must be rooted in the law, not ideology. This dedicated division ensures that OCR will serve all Americans by protecting their rights as enacted, not by creating or enforcing unlawful preferences.
Finally, the reorganization retains our Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division. The trust between a patient and their provider is sacred, and protecting the privacy and security of health information is a critical part of that trust. OCR will continue its vital work enforcing HIPAA and other confidentiality rules with rigor and discipline.
It is important to note that this action is about realignment, not reduction. We are not cutting staff or reprogramming funds. We are preserving our experienced and dedicated workforce and aligning them based on subject-matter expertise. This will improve operational efficiency, clarify accountability, and provide clearer points of contact for the public we serve.
The American people deserve a civil rights office with both a backbone and a clear mission. With this reorganization, HHS is providing just that. We will protect religious liberty without apology, enforce civil rights without heed to ideology, and safeguard health information with discipline.
Paula M. Stannard is the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
