HHS issued a press release with initial information about the restructuring and downsizing of the Department. PACHC issued a statement. Key points for PCAs and CHCs include:
· In total, HHS will reduce its staff by about 25%, from 82,000 to 62,000 FTE. About 10,000 employees have already separated from HHS since the start of the second Trump Administration, and another 10,000 will be receiving Reduction-in-Force (RIF) notices soon. No details are yet available about where these Reductions in Force (RIF) will occur.
· HRSA will be absorbed into a new larger agency called the Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA. The other organizational entities being folded into AHA are:
o The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), which includes the Title X program, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Healthy People 2030 initiative, etc.
o The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which is being downsized 50%.
o Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
o The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is currently a research entity within the CDC. Note that NIOSH is different from OSHA.
There is no information on how this new agency will be structured, where it will be located, or who will lead it. However, HRSA is the largest agency being folded into AHA, and Health Centers are the largest program within HRSA, so it is expected that Health Centers will have a prominent role within the new AHA.
· Regional offices are being downsized from 10 offices to 5 offices, but there is no definitive information yet on which ones are being eliminated. Based on a previous announcement from the HHS Office of the General Counsel, we expect that the Philadelphia, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Denver will remain, but it’s unclear where the fifth office will be.
Here are some additional points of interest:
· A new office of the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement is being created, “to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health programs.” It will include the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and oversee Departmental and Medicare hearings.
· The CDC is not being broken up. Instead, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), which leads HHS’ response efforts to national disaster and public health emergencies, will be transferred to the CDC.
In the press release, HHS Secretary Kennedy states that, “We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl…. This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.” They estimate that the downsizing will save about $1.8 billion annually.