HHS ordered to cut 35% of spending on contracts : Shots

The Trump administration is requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to cut spending on contracts by 35%, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed to NPR.

The spending cut is across all divisions of HHS – which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies.

This comes on the heels of a nearly 25% staff reduction at HHS.

“The 35% reduction in HHS contracts is a strategic initiative across all divisions of HHS, with the goal of cutting unnecessary spending, saving taxpayer dollars, and streamlining operations,” Nixon wrote in a statement.

“Every agency within HHS is committed to reducing contract expenditures by this target. These cuts are designed to ensure that every dollar is used more efficiently while continuing to focus on our core mission of improving public health and services,” he added.

Spending on contracts can include a wide range of functions, including some that are specialized or not large enough to require full-time staff, said Dr. Robert Steinbrook, health research group director at the consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen. This could include mundane things like cleaning services or computer support, or specialized equipment for medical research such as freezer storage for bio-specimens or work with outside laboratories for tests.

With health agencies reeling from layoffs, these spending cuts will further weaken public health in this country, said Steinbrook, via e-mail. He called the cut “arbitrary and senseless.”

“Amid the disorganized mass layoffs of HHS staff and the reorganization of the agency, the rushed cuts are more likely to cause problems than to accomplish anything constructive,” he added.

“This is at best getting water from a stone,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, via e-mail. “They seem to be on a quest to totally destroy the infrastructure of the nation's public health system. It's amazing that they are looking to cut the parts of our health system that give the best value for prevention and wellness.”

HHS fired thousands of staffers this week, acting on its plan to dismiss 10,000 people, on top of around 10,000 people already leaving the agencies under the Trump administration's Fork in the Road offer and early retirement.

Have information you want to share about the layoffs and restructuring across federal health agencies? Reach out to these authors via encrypted communications: Selena Simmons-Duffin @selena.02, Sydney Lupkin @sydneylupkin.36, and Rob Stein @robstein.22.