HHS Announces Major Restructuring: 10,000 Jobs Cut Under Kennedy's Leadership

In a sweeping overhaul of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unveiled plans for a dramatic restructuring that will see the agency shed 10,000 full-time employees. This move, announced on Thursday morning, is part of a broader Trump administration initiative to streamline government operations and reduce costs.

Workforce Reduction and Agency Consolidation

The planned layoffs represent a significant downsizing of HHS, which will see its workforce shrink by approximately 25% to around 62,000 full-time employees. This reduction comes on top of previous cuts that have already eliminated about 10,000 positions through early retirement offers and other measures.

Key aspects of the restructuring include:

• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will lose about 3,500 employees, though HHS assures that drug, medical device, and food reviewers, as well as agency inspectors, will not be affected.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will see a reduction of about 2,400 employees but will absorb approximately 1,000 staff from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.
• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will lose 1,200 employees, while the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will cut about 300 staff.

In addition to workforce reductions, HHS will consolidate its operations by:

• Centralizing functions such as human resources, information technology, procurement, and policy.
• Reducing the number of regional offices from ten to five.
• Cutting the number of divisions from 28 to 15.

"Make America Healthy Again" Initiative

A cornerstone of the restructuring is the creation of a new "Administration for a Healthy America," which will merge several existing offices and administrations. This new unit will focus on issues such as maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, and environmental health, aligning with Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement.

Kennedy, who supported President Donald Trump during the election, emphasized the restructuring's alignment with the administration's priorities: "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," he stated. "This Department will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer."

Financial Impact and Broader Context

HHS projects that the reorganization will result in annual savings of $1.8 billion for taxpayers. The department has assured that essential health services, including Medicare and Medicaid, will remain intact, though specific details were not provided in the initial announcement.

This restructuring is part of a larger government-wide effort directed by the Trump administration, which has ordered all agencies to prepare for significant reductions in force. The initiative is being coordinated by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk, which aims to reduce government size through office closures, staff layoffs, and fund freezes.

While proponents argue that these changes will increase efficiency, critics, including affected employees, contend that the cuts have already impacted crucial areas such as biomedical research, disease monitoring programs, and oversight of healthcare fraud.

As the restructuring unfolds, its long-term effects on public health, medical research, and healthcare regulation remain to be seen. The pharmaceutical and medical device industries will be watching closely to understand how these changes may affect regulatory processes and future collaborations with government agencies.