The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it will lay off about 10,000 full-time employees.
The move is projected to save taxpayers $1.8 billion annually.
What the department billed as a ‘dramatic restructuring’ comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order implementing the Republican’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative.’
HHS said it expects a total downsizing of between 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees when combining this latest effort with early retirement and the results of the Fork in the Road, the deferred resignation offer of full pay and benefits until September.
‘We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,’ HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.said in a statement. ‘This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.’
‘Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,’ Kennedy added. ‘This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.’
Thursday’s announcement is intended to streamline the functions of HHS. The department said the 28 divisions of HHS contain ‘many redundant units,’ and the restructuring plan will consolidate them into 15 new divisions, including a new Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA. It also will ‘centralize core functions’ such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy, the department said. Five of the 10 regional offices will shut down.
The reorganization of the department is also meant to implement ‘the new HHS priority of ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins.’
The AHA – described as a ‘new, unified entity’ – will encompass the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
The department said the centralization ‘will improve coordination of health resources for low-income Americans and will focus on areas including Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS, and Workforce development.’ HHS said transferring SAMHSA to AHA ‘will increase operational efficiency and assure programs are carried out because it will break down artificial divisions between similar programs.’
The restructuring is also meant to strengthen the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HHS said the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), responsible for national disaster and public health emergency response, will transfer to the CDC, ‘reinforcing its core mission to protect Americans from health threats.’
Notably, Trump earlier this week named Susan Monarez, the current acting director of the CDC, to hold that position permanently. Her nomination replaces Trump’s original pick for the role, Dr. David Weldon.
HHS said Thursday it will create a new assistant secretary for enforcement to oversee the Departmental Appeals Board (DAB), Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA), and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to ‘combat waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health programs.’ The department will also merge the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation (ASPE) with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to create the Office of Strategy ‘to enhance research that informs the Secretary’s policies and improves the effectiveness of federal health programs.’
The department said ‘critical programs that support older adults and people with disabilities will be integrated into other HHS agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), ASPE, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).’ HHS said the reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services.