{"id":803,"date":"2025-08-01T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:13:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T15:13:30","slug":"deep-staff-cuts-at-a-little-known-federal-agency-pose-trouble-for-droves-of-local-health-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/01\/deep-staff-cuts-at-a-little-known-federal-agency-pose-trouble-for-droves-of-local-health-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Deep Staff Cuts at a Little-Known Federal Agency Pose Trouble for Droves of Local Health Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little-known federal agency that sends more than $12 billion annually<\/a> to support community health centers, addiction treatment services, and workforce initiatives for America\u2019s neediest people has been hobbled by the Trump administration\u2019s staffing purges.<\/p>\n

The cuts are \u201cjust a little astonishing,\u201d said Carole Johnson, who previously led the Health Resources and Services Administration. She left the agency in January with the administration change and has described the sweeping staff cuts as a \u201cbig threat\u201d to the agency\u2019s ability to distribute billions of dollars in grants to hospitals, clinics, nonprofits, and other organizations nationwide.<\/p>\n

Since February, about a quarter of workers at HRSA \u2014 including analysts, auditors, scientists, grant managers, and nursing consultants \u2014 have left, according to a KFF Health News analysis.<\/p>\n

The agency, headquartered in a nondescript gray-and-glass office building tucked into side streets in Rockville, Maryland, employed about 2,700 staffers in early 2025. Employees worked behind the scenes to manage and monitor thousands of projects nationwide that fund primary health providers, HIV\/AIDS treatment and prevention, maternal and child care programs, rural hospitals, and workforce training.<\/p>\n

On the ground, HRSA\u2019s grants have helped create telehealth initiatives for mothers in rural New Mexico<\/a>, funded workforce training for Indigenous nurses in South Dakota<\/a>, and supported Healthy Start programs for expectant mothers and babies in places like rural Georgia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ryan Alcorn, a co-founder and the chief executive of GrantExec, a company that helps organizations match and apply for funding, said every American benefits from the programs HRSA\u2019s funding supports: \u201cWhen the safety net fails, hospitals become overwhelmed, unpaid costs rise, and premiums go up for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several former HRSA leaders, who have been in touch with employees, confirmed the magnitude of the cuts estimated by KFF Health News. Johnson said she believes the actual number of workers lost is larger.<\/p>\n

More than 700 workers were fired or chose to leave from February through the end of June. The analysis is based on data from the HHS employee directory, which may not include workers who opted out of being listed, and may not be an exact count of the worker roster, which is in flux.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Johnson, who is now a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, and several other former employees interviewed by KFF Health News said they are concerned that specific programs will be eliminated, but also that reduced staffing could affect ongoing program oversight. The agency\u2019s workforce ethos, Johnson said, is one in which \u201cif there were two people left at HRSA, they would work around the clock to try to get the money out.\u201d<\/p>\n

For at least one program, revealed during a tense moment<\/a> on Capitol Hill in July, money to help low-income and minority students has already stopped flowing to colleges and universities<\/a>. The Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students program, established through congressional legislation<\/a>, helped schools pay for students to train to become dentists, physician assistants, midwives, and nurses \u2014 all of whom are in short supply in rural and some urban areas. Candice Chen, acting associate administrator of HRSA\u2019s health workforce bureau, confirmed the agency \u201cdid have competitions that were canceled.\u201d<\/p>\n

When U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) asked whether they were canceled by the Trump administration, Chen paused before speaking again: \u201cWell, the funding decisions were made across the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the canceled funding, officials from several schools declined to comment. Patrick Gonzales, a spokesperson for the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said in an emailed statement that the school is \u201chelping students navigate this transition with clarity and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) has called for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s resignation or firing, \u201cwhichever one comes first,\u201d saying there was \u201cno defensible answer\u201d to eliminating thousands of workers across federal agencies.<\/p>\n

In April, nearly a dozen Democratic senators<\/a> sent a letter to Kennedy demanding answers about the mass firings, noting HRSA is the \u201cprimary agency tasked with improving access to health care for vulnerable populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

HHS did not respond to the senators\u2019 letter. Kennedy and the Department of Health and Human Services \u201chas refused to answer basic questions about why the administration conducted mass firings in this office,\u201d said Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.).<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed fiscal 2026 budget eliminates HRSA<\/a> as well as some of its programs, including grants to rural hospitals, workforce training, Ryan White HIV\/AIDS programs, and emergency medical services for children. HRSA spokesperson Andrea Takash said in an emailed response that HHS is \u201cundertaking organizational changes that support multiple goals while ensuring continuity of essential services.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

HRSA continues to process new funding announcements and awards for the health centers, workforce programs, child and maternal health initiatives, and \u201cmany more of our critical programs and services,\u201d Takash said.<\/p>\n

HRSA\u2019s largest bureau supports thousands of community health centers that serve over 31 million people<\/a> nationwide. Before the end of September, the agency\u2019s grants are still scheduled to pay out billions more to health clinics and other organizations nationwide.<\/p>\n

Cuts to health centers could come under more scrutiny because their funding has \u201ca lot of bipartisan\u201d support, said Celli Horstman, a senior research associate at the Commonwealth Fund, a health research nonprofit. HRSA\u2019s funding, which includes Section 330 grants, goes to \u201ckeeping the doors open\u201d at federally qualified health centers nationwide, Horstman said.<\/p>\n

An additional 42% of health center funding comes from Medicaid, a federal and state insurance program that covers people with low incomes and those with disabilities, she said. Congress recently voted to reduce Medicaid funding.<\/p>\n

Joe Stevens, spokesperson for the Virginia Community Healthcare Association, said health centers are rethinking \u201chow they do business\u201d because of the Medicaid cuts and the increased administrative challenges faced when processing their HRSA grants, which have been more challenging to obtain since February. Virginia\u2019s health clinics treat about 400,000 people annually, Stevens said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a system that\u2019s been in place for 50-plus years, and this is the first time they\u2019re having issues receiving their funds,\u201d he said, noting that clinics now must also provide an itemized list of how the money is to be used after grants have been approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur health centers are understaffed, so having somebody to have to enter that information every two weeks is just more time,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

For months, HRSA staff across all departments have worked through changes to their technology systems and transitioned work to others as employees left their jobs. Workers have continued to process grants despite an executive order that froze federal funding<\/a> and a March announcement<\/a> that HHS would lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies \u2014 including HRSA.<\/p>\n

One former employee said that, at this point, \u201call we\u2019re doing now is keeping the lights on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Warren, who left the agency in June, ran HRSA\u2019s Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Warren described the bureau\u2019s staffing cuts as \u201csubstantial.\u201d The bureau awarded more than $628 million in grants between Oct. 1, 2024, and July 22, 2025, to programs that included providing block grants to states and funding home visiting programs, through which trained staffers work with families with young children.<\/p>\n

Warren, who is now the chief medical and health officer for the March of Dimes, said America faces a crisis as one of the \u201cmost dangerous places in the world to give birth among other high-income countries, and that shouldn\u2019t be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

With tears brimming, Warren said his former employees \u201cwake up every morning, they work all day, and they go to sleep every night thinking about what they can do for mothers, children, and families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Methodology<\/h4>\n

For this article, KFF Health News calculated workforce reductions at the Health Resources and Services Administration using public information from the Department of Health and Human Services directory<\/a> posted online. We compared the number and type of employees listed with HRSA in February to those in early July. Our employee totals exclude people listed as interns, fellows, student trainees, or volunteers. The directory is not an official count of HRSA employees, but it offers detailed snapshots of trends so far this year. Reporters also cross-checked the estimates with former employees.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to speak with current and former personnel from the Department of Health and Human Services or its component agencies who believe the public should understand what\u2019s happening within the federal health bureaucracy. Please message KFF Health News on Signal at (415) 519-8778 or get in touch here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n

USE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n

This story can be republished for free (details<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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