Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
HHS Workers Begin Getting Pink Slips
AP: Layoffs Begin At US Health Agencies
Employees across the massive U.S. Health and Human Services Department began receiving notices of dismissal on Tuesday in an overhaul ultimately expected to lay off up to 10,000 people. (Johnson, 4/1)
CBS News: RFK Jr.'s Layoffs Expected To Gut Worker Safety Agency NIOSH, Officials Say
At least two-thirds of the staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, are expected to be laid off as part of a restructuring ordered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., multiple federal health officials tell CBS News. Around 873 staff are expected to be cut from NIOSH, multiple leaders within the agency were told in recent days, out of the 10,000 workers that are slated to be laid off from across the Department of Health and Human Services this year. (Tin, 3/31)
Politico: Internal Fallout At HHS Delays 10,000 Firings
A sweeping layoff plan affecting more than 10,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services was abruptly delayed Friday over growing backlash with how the process was being orchestrated by Brad Smith, the DOGE lead at HHS, two officials tell POLITICO. At the center of the controversy is Smith’s secretive approach and his attempts to shield one HHS agency he has ties to from the reduction in force process, according to the two officials as well as two others, all granted anonymity to describe the sensitive conversations. The fallout has laid bare internal tensions within DOGE and raised questions about transparency in one of the most consequential restructuring efforts of the federal workforce. (Cai, Cancryn and Gardner, 3/31)
Forbes: How The Layoff Of 10,000 Health Workers From HHS Could Affect Your Health
This degree of downsizing may slow the approval process for many lifesaving drugs and delay inspection of food processing facilities. As an example, once the application for a new drug is submitted to the FDA, the agency has six to 10 months to approve the drug. Fewer employees mean less manpower to evaluate the safety and efficacy of new drugs that could dramatically impact diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart failure—issues that affect millions of Americans. (Awan, 3/30)
Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Sector Shaken As Trump Stirs Havoc In D.C.
Health systems have paused construction projects. Medical facilities are scrambling to acquire critical supplies as costs balloon under steep new tariffs. Hospitals are preparing to pare back services that don’t generate profits, such as and labor and delivery units. “It's been a little over 60 days. It's felt like a year,” said Jacquelyn Bombard, assistant vice president and chief federal government affairs officer at Renton, Washington-based Providence Health and Services. (Early, 3/31)
CBC: Trump Threats Open 'Floodgate' Of Inquiries From U.S. Physicians About Moving North
Some Canadian doctors are also turning down opportunities in the U.S. Renowned Ottawa heart surgeon Marc Ruel was planning a move to the United States last year, with the University of California, San Francisco "thrilled to announce" that he would be leading a heart division in their surgery department. But Donald Trump's threats toward Canada were such that Ruel has now decided to remain in Canada. (MacDiarmid, 3/31)
Also —
Stat: Trump Cuts To PEPFAR Rocks Rollout Of Gilead HIV Prevention Drug
The Trump administration’s enormous cuts to a global AIDS relief program threaten to upend the planned rollout of a groundbreaking HIV prevention drug that was expected to save countless lives. (Silverman and Mast, 4/1)
