Richard Hodes Oral History Interview

Richard Hodes, a Hillsborough County legislator, physician, and anesthesiologist discusses his career in this oral history. Dr. Hodes began his political career as a Florida legislator and chair of the House Committee on Health and Welfare in 1967. He discusses the changes in the political and administrative landscape of Florida public health, including the funding of the USF College of Medicine and the 1969 revision of the Florida Constitution under Governor Claude Kirk. This revision lead to the extensive reorganization and centralization of public health agencies in Florida under HRS (Health and Rehabilitative Services) and later, the concomitant redistribution of HRS due to its enormous size, variety in agencies, and challenging state level management. Dr. Hodes further discusses the ramifications of the second phase of administrative restructuring leading to the 1976 reorganization of HRS from 25 bureaus, sections and units into 11 districts. Dr. Hodes ends with a discussion of the 1996 Act establishing the Florida Department of Health, an effort to bring Florida’s 67 county health departments more directly under state government control