Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday that he’s restructuring the department and terminat...
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Thursday that he’s restructuring the department and terminating tens of thousands of employees.
HHS said the moves are being made in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative,” according to a press release.
“What I found when I came to HHS, is really a sprawling bureaucracy. We have over 100 communications departments — we should have one. We have 40 IT departments, 40 procurement departments, dozens of HR departments,” Kennedy told Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. “And that is where we’re doing the cuts. We’re going down from 82,000 personnel to 62,000.”
“We’re keeping the scientists, we’re keeping the front-line providers,” he added. “We trying to do our best, not only to serve as stewards of the taxpayer money, but also to make the agency more efficient.”
Kennedy’s first round of action will cut around 10,000 positions, which will help save taxpayers $1.8 billion annually. Through early retirement programs and the “Fork in the Road” initiative, the department seeks to eventually downsize to 62,000.
“ We’re gonna streamline our agency and eliminate the redundancies and invite everyone to align behind a simple, bold mission,” he said. “We’re gonna save taxpayers nearly $2 billion a year, and we’re gonna return HHS to its original commitment to public health and gold standard science.”
“I want everyone who works here to be proud of this agency, to be proud of the work, to feel a renewed inspiration,” he added.
HHS outlined the “specific contents” of the restructuring plan, below:
- Creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which will combine multiple agencies — 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) — into a new, unified entity. This 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. Transferring SAMHSA to AHA will increase operational efficiency and assure programs are carried out because it will break down artificial divisions between similar programs.
- Strengthening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): 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.
- New Assistant Secretary for Enforcement: HHS 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.
- Research and Evaluation for Health Policy: HHS will 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.
- Reorganization of the Administration for Community Living (ACL): 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). This reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services.