Federal workforce cuts slice through health agencies
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Protestors demonstrate in support of federal workers outside of HHS headquarters on Feb. 14. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Scores of termination letters went out to federal health agency workers over the long weekend as the Trump administration continues to slash the civil service workforce.
Why it matters: The full extent of the cuts won't be known until after the Tuesday night deadline for a mass firing largely carried out by email that's likely to dramatically reshape the government's health workforce. Most of the cuts are focused on probationary employees who've been on the job one or two years.
State of play: Food and Drug Administration staff cuts that began hitting the agency Saturday evening reportedly affected the center that regulates medical devices and digital health.
- Employees across the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Children and Families, the Indian Health Service and other agencies were also fired.
- The cuts also hit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaunted Epidemic Intelligence Service — a training ground for epidemiologists who are on the front lines of public health responses.
- Several federal employee unions sued the administration last week, arguing that the mass firings are illegal. Democracy Forward, a legal services nonprofit, also filed a class-wide lawsuit against the administration on behalf of fired employees.
Inside the room: CMS employees received termination letters reviewed by Axios that cite poor performance as the reason for ending employment, regardless of their latest performance reviews.
- The letters are signed by Jeffrey Anoka, acting head of human resources for the Department of Health and Human Services.
- "Unfortunately, the agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency," the emails read.
- The employees Axios spoke to said they're locked out of their emails and work systems, and they have not received any communication from CMS leadership.
Yes, but: Many employees being fired for performance issues have received top performance scores.
- One fired employee got the maximum score possible on a performance review from just last month, according to documents seen by Axios.
- Another employee, who started at CMS less than a month ago, received the same reason for dismissal in his termination letter but said he hadn't had a performance review yet.
- Axios granted the employees anonymity to speak freely about their situations.
CMS and HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
The cuts have hit recent hires in CMS' federal nurse surveyor workforce. Surveyors do on-the-ground inspections of health facilities to make sure they're operating within federal safety standards.
- One fired nurse surveyor said he left a stable private-sector job — and took a pay cut — to start at CMS last month because he was drawn to public service. He'd completed 200 hours of training for the position when he got a letter notifying him of his termination on Saturday.
- "The team was already very small. Surveyors are so important to keeping patients safe and hospitals accountable. There was no excess on our team," he said.
Zoom in: Some 950 Indian Health Services probationary employees have reportedly also been fired.
- Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday urging clarification on the firings and how HHS will fulfill its responsibility to tribes if the layoffs move forward.
- "Federal Tribal programs are not racial nor preference programs; they are a solemn duty of the federal government to uphold its treaty and trust obligations to Tribal Nations and all indigenous peoples," the letter reads.
Most fired federal employees have the right to file an appeal with the Merit Systems Protection Board within 30 days, which the emails reviewed by Axios acknowledge.
- The White House last week fired a Democratic member of the three-person board and replaced her with a Republican appointee. The other Democratic member was stripped of his vice chair status.
The bottom line: An employee fired from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation said that before the staff cuts, the new administration told employees they wanted to push hard to create new value-based care models.
- "There's just no shot they can get things through" with the staff remaining in the time frames administration officials set out, he told Axios. "I'm worried about how hollowed out things are."
