WASHINGTON, D.C.—Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr announced on Thursday, March 27, his plan to restructure the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in accordance with President Donald J Trump’s Executive Order, “Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative.”
“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. “This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”
First, he will reduce the workforce of HHS by 20,000 employees—laying off 10,000 full-time employees with another 10,000 who he expects to utilize the Deferred Resignation Program or take early retirement—reducing HHS from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees. He alleges that this will save taxpayers an estimated $1.8 billion per year.
We are streamlining HHS to make our agency more efficient and more effective. We will eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments, while preserving their core functions by merging them into a new organization called the Administration for a Healthy America or AHA. This… pic.twitter.com/BlQWUpK3u7
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 27, 2025
Secondly, Secretary Kennedy Jr. will streamline the functions of HHS by consolidating its 28 divisions to 15 new divisions, including a new Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA, and will centralize core functions such as Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, External Affairs, and Policy. Also, regional offices will be reduced from 10 to 5.
Third, the restructure will implement a new HHS priority of what he calls “ending America’s epidemic of chronic illness” by focusing on safe, wholesome food, clean water, and the elimination of environmental toxins.
Finally, he aims to improve Americans’ experience with HHS by making the agency more responsive and efficient, while ensuring that Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services remain intact, he said.
The specific contents of the restructuring plan that have been announced so far are as follows:
- Creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which will combine multiple agencies — the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) — into a new, unified entity. This centralization will improve coordination of health resources for low-income Americans and will focus on areas including, Primary Care, Maternal and Child Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, HIV/AIDS, and Workforce development. Transferring SAMHSA to AHA will increase operational efficiency and assure programs are carried out because it will break down artificial divisions between similar programs.
- Strengthening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), responsible for national disaster and public health emergency response, will transfer to the CDC, reinforcing its core mission to protect Americans from health threats.
- New Assistant Secretary for Enforcement: HHS will create a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement to oversee the Departmental Appeals Board (DAB), Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA), and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health programs.
- Research and Evaluation for Health Policy: HHS will merge the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to create the Office of Strategy to enhance research that informs the Secretary’s policies and improves the effectiveness of federal health programs.
- Reorganization of the Administration for Community Living (ACL): Critical programs that support older adults and people with disabilities will be integrated into other HHS agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), ASPE, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This reorganization will not impact Medicare and Medicaid services.
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” Secretary Kennedy said. “This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.”
For more detailed information, please visit our fact sheet.
Author: Mario Lotmore
