HHS plans to cut 10,000 jobs, close offices, and merge agencies

The Trump administration has been shedding jobs across the federal government, and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is reducing its workforce and combining a host of agencies.

U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the department will lay off 10,000 full-time workers and combine some of its agencies. He says the department will still do more, even with less.

The health department said Thursday that it’s cutting 10,000 full-time workers. Through other efforts to cut positions, including early retirements and buyouts, the department projects that its workforce will ultimately be reduced from 82,000 to 62,000, or almost a quarter of the department’s staff.

The department projects that the job cuts and reorganization will save $1.8 billion. Over half of the 10,000 job cuts will come from two agencies within the health department: The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both the FDA and CDC are slated to lose about a fifth of their workforces.

The health department also plans to merge a host of its agencies, streamlining 28 agencies into 15 new divisions. The department also plans to cut half of its regional offices, from 10 to 5. The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans.

The department says it will preserve Medicare and Medicaid and other essential services, but says the realignment reflects the department’s new focus on chronic diseases.

The Food and Drug Administration is slated to lose 3,500 workers, which is about 19% of its staff. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will see its workforce drop by 2,400, which is about 18% of its staff. The National Institutes of Health will lose 1,200 employees (6% of the NIH staff), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will lose 300, the Journal reports.

U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says the department will do more, even with its workforce shrinking by 20,000 through layoffs, buyouts and retirements. In a video the health department posted on X, Kennedy acknowledged it will be a "painful period," but said the agency has been inefficient even as it's grown in recent years.

"I want to promise you now that we're going to do more with less," Kennedy said on the video. "No American is going to be left behind. Our key services delivered through Medicare and Medicaid, the FDA and CDC and other agencies will enter a new era of responsiveness and a new era of effectiveness."

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Some healthcare leaders have criticized cuts in staff at the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying the cuts will hamper research and the government's ability to monitor infectious diseases. Reuters reported Thursday morning that layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration are hampering reviews of medical devices.

In making the cuts, Kennedy said the department is"keenly focused on pairing away excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists and frontline health providers so that we can do a better job than the American people."

As part of its reorganization, the department is creating a new Administration for a Healthy America, echoing the "Make America Healthy Again" mantra Kennedy has championed. Several existing divisions will fall under this new entity.

The Administration for a Healthy America will combine the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

The department said this new division will focus on primary care, mental health, HIV/AIDS and workforce development. HHS says moving the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration into that new division will improve efficiency.

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which leads federal efforts to manage and react to public health emergencies, will be moved to the CDC. The department said the move will strengthen the CDC.

Kennedy is also creating a new assistant secretary for enforcement, who will oversee the Departmental Appeals Board, the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, and the Office for Civil Rights. The health department said this new entity is aimed at curbing waste and abuse.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will merge with the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation to create a new Office of Strategy.

The department also says it’s reorganizing the Administration for Community Living, and said programs to support individuals with disabilities will be integrated into other agencies, including CMS and the Administration for Children and Families.

In explaining the moves in the HHS video, Kennedy cast the job reductions and streamlining as a necessary step and said boosting spending hasn't made Americans healthier or curbed cancer or other chronic diseases.

Kennedy said that he said most of the health department's employees are competent and comprehensive. But he also said that when he arrived he found out that more than half of the department's employees "don't even come to work."

"We're going to streamline HHS to make our agency more efficient and more effective," Kennedy said. "We're going to imbue the agency with a clear sense of mission to radically improve the health of Americans and to improve agency morale."

Kennedy also said some within the health department have been uncooperative since his arrival.

"A few isolated divisions are neglecting public health altogether and seem only accountable to the industries that they're supposed to be regulating," Kennedy said. "In one case, defiant bureaucrats impeded the secretary's office from accessing the closely guarded databases that might reveal the dangers of certain drugs and medical interventions."

When President Trump picked Kennedy to lead the health department, many health leaders opposed the choice. Kennedy received heavy criticism from health leaders due to his long record of assailing the effectiveness of vaccines, and his lack of medical credentials or experience leading a health agency.

Criticism mounted when the NIH said it's cutting funding to universities, academic medical centers and hospitals, saying it was placing a cap on "indirect" research costs to ensure funds go to the lab. The NIH projected the move would save $4 billion annually.

Healthcare leaders and universities say those indirect costs are essential parts of research, including computing services and security. A federal judge issued a temporary injunction to block the cuts.

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