The current overall organizational structure of HHS is the result of the Public Health Service reorganizations of 1966–1973,[1] as well as the 1980 spinoff of the Department of Education which caused HHS to be renamed from its former name, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.[2] Since then there have been a few new operating agencies and minor reorganizations.[3][4][5][6]
5600 Fishers Lane in North Bethesda, Maryland holds the headquarters of HRSA, SAMHSA, and AHRQ, all of which are planned to be merged into other agencies.NIOSH, whose Taft Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio is pictured, is planned to be transferred from CDC to the new AHA.
The reorganization is planned to reduce the number of top-level HHS divisions from 28 to 15.[12]:2 The following top-level agencies are planned to be created from merging existing agencies:
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for External Affairs is planned to consolidate global, legislative, intergovernmental, and public affairs functions.[12]:42
The currently independent Consumer Product Safety Commission is proposed to be moved into HHS as the new Office of the Assistant Secretary for Consumer Product Safety.[12]:51[15]:389
Offices at each agency dealing with human resources, information technology, procurement, external affairs, and policy are planned to be replaced with centralized HHS-wide offices. According to Kennedy, HHS was said to have over 100 communications offices, over 40 information technology departments, dozens of procurement offices, and nine human resources departments.[10][21] Additionally, the ten existing HHS regional offices are planned to be consolidated into five.[12]:2[21]
Reduction in force
FDA, whose White Oak Campus headquarters is pictured, and CDC are each projected to lose 20% of their workforce.
The plan proposes a reduction in workforce of about 10,000 full-time employees, in addition to 10,000 additional employees who voluntarily left through other programs including a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority and the Deferred Resignation Program. Taken together, these programs are expected to reduce HHS's workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees, a figure that excludes about 5,200 probationary workers who were targets of the disputed 2025 mass layoffs.[10][22][13] Most of these reductions are planned to be targeted towards administrative functions.[10][22][21] The layoffs were projected to take effect on May 27, 2025.[21]
The reorganization was announced through a press release and video posted on social media on March 27, 2025.[10][28][22] It was reported that there was no input from agency-level human resources staff or leadership before the reorganization was announced, and details beyond the press release were not immediately provided to employees.[23][25] It was also reported that the sending of notices was delayed due to tensions between HHS leadership and the DOGE lead for HHS, with the former being given extra time to scrutinize the firing plans.[29]
Notices went out to employees early in the morning of April 1, although some employees learned they had been laid off only when their entry badges failed to work when they arrived in the morning.[30][31][24] Long lines formed at the entrances to some federal buildings due to increased security. Because the layoffs targeted entire units, the normal process of ranking individual personnel to lay off was avoided.[24] Many senior leaders were told they were being reassigned to Indian Health Service locations in Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Minnesota, or other locations far from Washington, DC, to entice them to leave voluntarily.[30][31]
The case New York v. Kennedy was brought by 19 states and the District of Columbia challenging the personnel actions and reorganization for HHS specifically. On July 1, the District Court for the District of Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the reorganization likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act, and preventing HHS from issuing or enforcing new or existing RIF firings or placement on administrative leave, or implementing the announced restructurings.[38][39] On July 18 the court rejected that the AFGE Supreme Court decision was controlling.[40]
Reaction
The creation of the Administration for a Healthy America and the broader HHS restructuring have drawn criticism from public health experts, former officials, labor unions, and Democratic lawmakers. Critics argue that the layoffs—part of a plan to reduce HHS staff by 20,000 employees—will severely impact the department's capacity to respond to public health crises. Senator Patty Murray described the plan as “an absurd suggestion” that “defies common sense,” citing ongoing outbreaks of bird flu, measles, and the fentanyl epidemic.[21]
Labor unions also raised concerns. Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents around 18,500 HHS staff, stated the administration's claims that deep cuts to agencies like the Food and Drug Administration would not be harmful were "preposterous," and vowed to “pursue every opportunity to fight back.”[21] Critics further expressed unease about centralizing oversight under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of promoting discredited claims regarding vaccine safety.[41]
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