HHS will eliminate 10,000 positions
Department says ti won't affect FDA inspections
By: Joey Garrison
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Health and Human Service Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Thursday [03/27/2025] that he will cut about 10,000 full-time jobs form the Cabinet department in a dramatic reduction that includes closing half its regional offices as part of a wider Trump administration overhaul of the federal government.
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Combined with HHJS employees who previously accepted buyouts and others who were already fired, the agency's workforce will be sliced by almost one-quarter from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000 since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
..... The Health and Human Services department - which oversees the centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - will consolidate the agency's 28 divisions into 15 new divisions in Kennedy's shakeup. This includes a new Administration for a Healthy America to carry out Kennedy's "Make America Health Again" agenda.
..... The department plans to close five of tis 10 regional offices and centralize key functions such as human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs and policy. HHS
officials insisted the restructuring will keep Medicare, Medicaid and other essential health services "intact," Kennedy's changes are intended to reflect a new priority of "ending America's epidemic of chronic illness by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water and the elimination of environmental toxins," the agency said.
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"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," Kennedy said in a statement.
..... Among the cuts in key divisions:
* The Food and Drug Administration will terminate 3,500 full-time employees. The reductions will not affect drug, medical device or food reviewer or inspectors, the agency said.
* The CDC is set tor educe its workforce by 2.400 employees. In addition, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response will move to the CDC.
Contributing Reuters