Chicago – April 01, 2025
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has begun large-scale layoffs as part of a major restructuring effort. This change follows President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.”
The restructuring will reduce the number of federal health employees from 82,000 to 62,000. HHS officials say these cuts will save taxpayers $1.8 billion annually while keeping important programs like Medicare and Medicaid running smoothly.
The department is merging and downsizing many of its agencies. HHS will go from 28 divisions to just 15. A major change includes the creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which will combine agencies such as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). This will help remove unnecessary divisions between similar programs.
Other key changes include reducing HHS regional offices from 10 to 5 and creating a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement to focus on fraud and abuse in federal health programs.
The restructuring affects many important agencies, including:
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
HHS says these changes will make the department run more efficiently while cutting costs. The layoffs began on Tuesday and are expected to continue as agencies adjust to the new structure.
