cuts HHS layoffs started yesterday. It wasn't an April Fools' Day joke. 
Alex Brandon/AP It was early yesterday morning — like 5 a.m. early — when the chaos began. Federal health employees started receiving layoff notices (also known as RIFs, for "reduction in force") after last week's announcement that as many as 10,000 workers were expected to be cut. STAT reporters woke up to texts and calls from workers at the affected agencies. "It's started," one message said plainly. The range of the cuts reflect the breadth of all the work HHS does: Scientists dedicated to tobacco control, injury prevention, infectious disease, birth defects, reproductive health, substance abuse, veterinary medicine, antimicrobial resistance, and chemical contaminants in the food supply lost their jobs; so did people in human resources, policy, and communications departments. The cuts include rank-and-file staffers as well as high-level leaders — including a number who were offered the chance to transfer to the Indian Health Service. As workers dealt with confusion and concern around the cuts, HHS posted on social media some photos of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the NIH, and Marty Makary, the new FDA commissioner. "We look forward to restoring trust, transparency, and excellence in public health," the post read. It was an all-hands-on-deck day here at STAT to cover the news. Here's the rundown of our stories, which are continually updating, with more to come: - The need-to-know rundown of how it all went down: "Terminations hitting … on April Fools' Day. So cruel," one HHS employee who didn't lose their job said to STAT. Some employees hadn't seen the email and showed up to the office, only then to wait in a line outside so they could get in to clean out their offices.
- How the CDC fared: The Trump administration has argued that the CDC's mission has become too broad, and the agency should focus on infectious disease concerns. The bulk of the terminations hit units focused on other health issues, but there have been reports that divisions focused on HIV prevention and tuberculosis containment saw cuts. Experts both inside and outside the CDC told STAT they were worried that the country's capacity to respond to any sort of public health threat has been dangerously eroded.
- The FDA: The day the layoffs began also happened to be Makary's first official day as FDA commissioner. His first email to the staff summarized his resume: "Dr. Makary is imminently qualified to lead the FDA at this important time in the health of our nation," the email reads. It was a shaky start as cuts hit agency offices for media affairs, minority health, and administrative support staff. Regulatory leaders lost jobs with no input from FDA center leadership, sources said.
- And the NIH: It was also Bhattacharya's first day yesterday when directors of five NIH institutes and at least two other members of senior leadership were put on administrative leave or offered new assignments. Bhattacharya's more measured message noted that the layoffs "will have a profound impact on key NIH administrative functions, including communications, legislative affairs, procurement, and human resources." But the cuts go beyond administrative personnel, affecting key scientists overseeing projects on sickle cell disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, pandemic preparedness, and more.
- Why are some people being offered jobs at IHS? "I'll just say it, I think it's a way to try to get people to quit," Phil Huang, director of Dallas Health and Human Services, said in a media briefing. While it is true that the IHS has a need for more staff, the openings are largely for jobs like physicians and nurses, not research scientists, analysts, and managers.
- What about "radical transparency"? The layoffs included major cuts to teams across the agencies handling communications, media relations, and Freedom of Information Act requests. While Kennedy previously vowed to promote "radical transparency," workers say the layoffs will severely hamstring HHS's ability to relay critical health information to the public. "He only got half of that right — this is radical," said Kevin Griffis, the former director of communications at the CDC who left several days ago.
- The local impacts: Local public health figures, including Huang from Dallas, expressed deep dismay over yesterday's federal cuts. The loss of federal expertise will likely compound challenges faced at the local level, especially in smaller places, said Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Losing just one multi-talented worker can destroy a rural health department.
- And how the cuts could hit vulnerable Americans with disabilities: While the Trump administration has already proposed or made cuts to services like Medicaid that are critical to people with disabilities, Tuesday's cuts — including the dismantling of the Administration for Community Living, which acts as a federal hub for disability education, policy and grantmaking — feel particularly targeted toward the disability community, experts said.
addiction Black men suffered most in last decade of the overdose crisis Between 2010 and 2020, Black men died from unintentional drug overdoses at a rate of 23.25 per 100,000, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. That's more than white men, who died at a rate of about 22.5 per 100,000, and much more than Black women (9), white women (almost 12). When calculating years of potential life lost, the researchers found that Black men and women had worsening outcomes over time compared to white men, while white women saw improvements. It was 2016 when Black men started dying more from overdoses than white men in the U.S., and 2019 when the death rate for Black women surpassed that of their white counterparts. The findings emphasize the importance of studying intersectional groups when it comes to overdoses, the authors write. And while the study didn't examine structural factors like poverty or racism, the authors also note that other research has shown they play a part in people's drug activity. The Trump administration has yet to advance meaningful drug policy reforms. But a coalition of advocacy groups has just sent a request to key Trump officials: Use the U.S. DOGE Service to make methadone more widely available. STAT's Lev Facher reports today on the letter, which argues that the current regulations create "an unnecessarily burdensome bureaucracy that harms Americans." Read more. |
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