(NewsNation) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. is formalizing a major consolidation plan that would cut the department’s workforce by 10,000 employees and shutter five of the agency’s 10 regional offices, agency officials have announced.
The department estimates that the cuts will save taxpayers an estimated $1.8 billion per year.
Under the restructuring, Kennedy plans to consolidate several agencies within the department into one. The plan is moving forward after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in late February that implements the Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-efficiency initiative. Officials say that the personnel cuts will be made by the department’s full-time workforce of 82,000 to 62,000 and that 28 divisions within HHS will be reduced to 15.
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In addition to the 10,000 layoffs that will be part of the department’s restructuring, an additional 10,000 employees accepted buyouts from the agency.
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl,” Kennedy said in a statement released by the department. “We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic. This Department will do more — a lot more — at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
Kennedy, who is scheduled to appear on NewsNation’s “CUOMO” (8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT) on Thursday night, will make the biggest personnel cuts to the Food and Drug Administration, which will decrease its workforce by about 3,500 full-time employees. The cuts will be part of a streamlining operation that centralizes administrative functions. However, under the cuts, agency officials said that the reduction in personnel will not affect drug, medical device or food reviewers or inspectors.
The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention will see about 2,400 jobs slashed with Kennedy’s restructuring plan focusing on the CDC returning to its core mission of preparing for and responding to epidemics and outbreaks. However, 1,000 of the cuts will come in the form of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response moving under the CDC umbrella, agency officials announced.
Further cuts will be made to the National Institute of Health, which will see its full-time workforce reduced by about 1,200 employees. The staff reductions will be a result of centralizing the procurement, human resources and communications departments.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will see the smallest job reductions, with about 300 jobs being cut. However, agency officials have announced that Medicare and Medicaid will not be affected by Kennedy’s restricting plan.
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Agency officials said that the cuts are being made not only to save money but to make the department more efficient and more responsive to the needs of Americans. The department said that it will allow the agency to be more responsive to Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, which has a plan of ending the chronic disease epidemic.
The restructuring comes after a four-year period during the Biden administration when department officials said that HHS’s budget increased by 38% and that staffing increased by 17%, officials said.
No further cuts are expected to be made beyond the workforce reduction, officials said, but the department will continue to look for ways to streamline its operations and internal agencies.
