Hhs Braces For A Reorganization

The Trump administration is readying to slash the Department of Health and Human Services workforce again, according to seven people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the changes.

The announcement could come soon, three of the people said.

HHS employees have braced for changes after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as health secretary in early February. In addition to Kennedy’s goals, the Trump administration has tasked him with downsizing key agencies and overhauling their policy priorities. As part of that, HHS agencies were asked to submit budgetary plans, including workforce reductions.

Discussions of a reorganization come as the courts are pushing back on Trump’s initial attempts to shrink the federal government. On Thursday, federal district court Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ordered agencies to immediately rehire the tens of thousands of probationary employees fired in February under the Department of Government Efficiency initiative. It’s unclear whether Alsup’s decision would dissuade the administration, which is likely to appeal the decision, from making further cuts.

Cuts are expected agency wide, according to the people. More specifically, job cuts could impact staff working with the assistant secretary for technology policy and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, according to four of the people, as well as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Administration for Children and Families, three of the people said.

HHS did not respond to a request for comment.

During Trump’s first eight weeks in office, he made blunt policy shifts and unprecedented reductions in the federal workforce. Changes to HHS have been especially chaotic. Trump’s administration fired thousands of workers over Valentine’s Day weekend, only to backtrack days later on some positions after members of the health care industry spoke out against the cuts.

HHS’ technology employees might be particularly vulnerable to cuts. They oversee certification of electronic health records, which ensure patients and doctors can access relevant health data. President Joe Biden’s administration overhauled their division so it could wield more influence over how HHS uses technology and it released a broad strategy for how the department would support artificial intelligence innovation and set AI policy in the future shortly before Biden left office.

The Trump administration has moved to unwind much of that work, wiping the department’s strategic AI document from the web and dismissing newly hired senior staff in charge of data, technology, and AI policy.

Trump administration officials have discussed how much to cut down the tech office, which now has around 180 employees and could go as low as 30, according to two of the people with knowledge of the plans. The Trump officials are also debating whether to move the Office of the National Coordinator into the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the people said.

“ONC is one of those organizations that was created and is now there forever, far past its initial use,” said Brian J. Miller, a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

The rumors of a sweeping reorganization at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which studies ways of improving health services, has had a chilling effect on the health research industry.

A researcher who was granted anonymity to speak freely likened a possible overhaul of AHRQ to the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Trump administration has effectively closed USAID down. The researcher said they’d been unable to get in touch with HHS or representatives of the Elon Musk-led DOGE and worry that cost-cutting at AHRQ would mean disrupting ongoing studies.