State Agencies Health and Mental Hygiene/'195
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE

Charles R. Buck, Jr., Sc.D., Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene
John L. Green, M.D., Deputy Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene
William M. Eichbaum, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Programs
John L. Green, Assistant Secretary/or Health Regulation and Policy Analysis
John J. Kent, Jr., Assistant Secretary for Administration

Stanley R. Platman, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Addictions, and
Developmental Disabilities

Joanne E. Finley, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Secretary for Health
Adele Wilzack, Assistant Secretary for Medical Care Programs

201 West Preston Street

Baltimore 21201 Telephone: 383-2600
Public Information: 383-2683

Although the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was created in 1969, its historical develop-
ment began in the nineteenth century. The Department of Health originally was established in 1874
(Chapter 200, Acts of 1874). The separate development of the Department of Mental Hygiene, howev-
er, dates from 1886, when the State Lunacy Commission was formed (Chapter 487, Acts of 1886). In
1922 the Commission was abolished and replaced by the Board of Mental Hygiene (Chapter 29, Acts
of 1922). The Board, in turn, was replaced by the Department of Mental Hygiene in 1949 (Chapter
685, Acts of 1949). By 1961 the State Board of Health and Mental Hygiene was created to maintain
authority over the Department of Health and the Department of Mental Hygiene (Chapter 841, Acts
of 1961). The present Department of Health and Mental Hygiene replaced the State Board in 1969
(Chapter 77, Acts of 1969).

The mission of the Department is to assure the people of Maryland their inherent right to a health-
ful environment and a high level of physical, mental, and social health. Achievement of this goal will
be through the development of a comprehensive, continuous, and accessible system of health services
for the State of Maryland, which emphasizes the promotion of health and the prevention of disease
and disability.

Many programs are by their nature public functions and could not be performed effectively by the
private sector. Prime among these is the responsibility for dealing with the epidemiological dimensions
of hazards to health affecting the community, such as environmental pollution and communicable dis-
ease, and the organization of community efforts to prevent or control their impact.

Twenty-four local health departments report directly to the Deputy Secretary for Health and Mental
Hygiene and have access to all Departmental officials as well. The local health departments are the fo-
cal point in the delivery of services.

The Department provides or purchases direct care services primarily in the following areas: residen-
tial and outpatient care for the mentally ill, the mentally retarded, the chronically ill, including those
with tuberculosis, the impaired elderly, persons with addictive conditions, and court-referred youths. It
also provides several preventive medicine services directly. It further develops programs for the rehabil-
itation of troubled youth. The Department also provides a comprehensive program of health care ser-
vices for the indigent and medically indigent.

The Department is organized on the basis of program similarities under six assistant secretaries to
provide effective service delivery. Under the Assistant Secretary for Medical Care Programs are three
administrations—Policy, Operations, and Compliance—charged with the reimbursement of health
care services for the indigent and medically indigent. The Alcoholism Control, Drug Abuse, Mental
Retardation, Developmental Disabilities, and Mental Hygiene Administrations are assigned to the As-
sistant Secretary for Mental Health, Mental Retardation, Addictions, and Developmental Disabilities.
The Assistant Secretary for Health is responsible for the Laboratories, Preventive Medicine, Aged and
Chronically 111, and Juvenile Services Administrations, and the Board of Postmortem Examiners.

All Department-wide services of a regulatory nature, such as State Health Planning and Develop-
ment, Regulatory Services, Health Services Cost Review, and Program Evaluation are coordinated by
the Assistant Secretary for Health Regulation and Policy Analysis.