NEW YORK — The US Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday that it is planning to lay off about 10,000 full-time employees as part of a cost-cutting initiative that will include a sharp reduction in the number of the agency's divisions.
The move, which comes as part of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Workforce Optimization Initiative, is expected to save about $1.8 billion in tax costs, according to the HHS. Combined with early retirements and other restructuring efforts, the agency said that it expects to lower its total head count to around 62,000 full-time employees from roughly 82,000.
In conjunction with the layoffs, HHS is consolidating its 28 divisions into 15 new ones including the Administration for a Healthy America, which will subsume the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The activities of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response will now be handled by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) will merge with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to create the Office of Strategy.
Additionally, the Administration for Community Living will be integrated into other HHS agencies including the Administration for Children and Families, ASPE, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. HHS noted that the reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services.
Core functions such as human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs, and policy will also be centralized, HHS said, while its total regional offices will be reduced to five from 10.
"Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants," HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. "This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves."