Mass firings at HHS: Thousands impacted across federal health agencies including CMS, FDA
The nation's most distinguished health agencies fired thousands of probationary workers, starting Feb. 13 and extending into the holiday weekend
Editor's Note: This is a developing story. If you are a dismissed or active federal worker with information to share, please reach out at ntong@questex.com.
Updated: Feb 17 at 10:17 a.m. ET
The nation's most distinguished health agencies fired thousands of probationary workers, starting Feb. 13 and extending into the holiday weekend, in what is becoming informally known among federal workers as the Valentine’s Day Massacre.
The firings began at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, before extending throughout virtually all of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) divisions by the end of the weekend, reported numerous media outlets. Impacted workers took to social media to confirm the news.
President Trump, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk have long promised to drastically reduce the workforce at federal health agencies in an effort to fundamentally reshape the federal government.
“HHS is following the administration’s guidance and taking action to support the President’s broader efforts to restructure and streamline the federal government,” an HHS spokesperson said in statement. “This is to ensure that HHS better serves the American people at the highest and most efficient standard.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eliminated 1,300 probationary workers. Employees were given four weeks paid administrative leave and notified the morning of Feb. 14, as first reported by the Associated Press. Thousands more were terminated in the initial round of firings on Friday at the National Institutes of Health.
Up to 5,200 employees lost their jobs across HHS, initial reports indicated. They included employees at the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service division, CBS News and others reported.
"They're top doctors, veterinarians and other health professionals," said Tom Frieden, M.D., the CDC director under President Obama, on X. "They sign up for a two-year training program to serve the country. Not only is terminating them bad for the country, it's also a disgraceful violation of a commitment."
Administration officials told the press Friday night only 3,600 employees were fired. Public health experts, providers at the Indian Health Service (IHS) and workers at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were spared, they said. But the reality was far more unclear to employees. One public health analyst, Arielle Kane at the CMS Innovation Center, took to X to lambast Musk and the DOGE project.
“Elon Musk your DOGE minions just fired me and my colleagues at CMMI,” she posted. “We were working on improving maternal health outcomes AT LOWER COSTS so that less pregnant women would die in this county.” In an online interview, she said she was on the phone with a news publication to correct the Trump administration’s claims they limited the scope of the firings. That’s when she received her own termination announcement.
Similar mixed messaging occurred at IHS. The Office of Personnel Management first told IHS the agency wanted 2,200 probationary workers laid off. IHS managed to secure safety for all but 950 employees, despite civil servant protections. But after a delay, those 950 employees had their terminations rescinded by RFK Jr., according to Buu Nygren, president of Navajo Nation. Now, 350 nurses, 129 medical assistants, 93 physicians and more positions are deemed essential and protected.
“The Indian Health Service has always been treated as the redheaded stepchild at HHS,” said RFK Jr. in a statement to Fierce Healthcare. “My father often complained that IHS was chronically understaffed and underfunded. President Trump wants me to rectify this sad history. Indians suffer the highest level of chronic disease of any demographic. IHS will be a priority over the next four years."
By the end of the weekend, federal workers at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) unit within CMS and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) all announced their involuntary departures on social media.
All told, the fired civil servants at each federal department were responsible for helping combat public health epidemics, research and administer national programs like the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Head Start, and regulate medical devices and artificial intelligence technology, among many other functions. Some workers were fired on Saturday.
Renee Wegrzyn, the inaugural director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) was also fired from her position, reported Fierce Biotech. Upwards of 80 CMS employees in the CCIIO were fired, according to Politico.
The Trump administration is choosing to target probationary workers early in the process because they are easier to fire without violating civil service protections.
A Feb. 11 executive order gave further details on how DOGE would alter the federal workforce. It requires every federal agency to hire “no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.”
Each agency must also develop a “data-driven” plan with a DOGE team lead, ensuring vacancies are not filled if the DOGE team lead deems the position unnecessary. A monthly report will be given to the United States DOGE Service Administrator.
Explicitly mentioned in the executive order are offices that include diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which will be prioritized for any waves of firings.
“Staffing cuts of the level described in the President’s executive order will bring about a cascade of consequences for Medicare, Medicaid and other publicly-supported coverage programs—placing at risk the people who rely on those programs for coverage, including children, families, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities,” said Margaret Murray, CEO for the Association for Community Affiliated Plans (ACAP).
“Though we advocate for streamlined and accountable governance, we hold serious concerns that HHS will struggle to uphold its critical responsibilities under such cuts,” she added in a statement. “These reductions risk eroding the agency’s capacity to operate effectively, potentially leading to diminished transparency, slower responsiveness, greater inefficiency, and weakened oversight of the programs it manages.”
Related
A “thank you” letter from former Secretary Xavier Becerra and 139 other former HHS workers under President Obama and President Biden was posted to recognize the careers of the terminated workers.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced layoffs Thursday affecting more than 1,000 federal workers, in a move the Trump administration said would save $98 million per year.
Media reports have also outlined mass firings of probationary employees across other government agencies on Thursday, such as the Department of Education, the U.S. Forest Service, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and even OPM itself.
There are reports of thousands of layoffs at the National Institutes of Health circulating within a subreddit comprised of anonymous federal workers and other social media platforms. Other posts verify the 5,200 target across HHS and say that emails will be sent to those affected Friday afternoon.
As with other executive orders from the administration, the firings are likely to trigger lawsuits from those affected. One group, Democracy Forward, has already taken action.
“The administration’s mass termination of employees in their first or second year on the job is an unprecedented and grossly unfair circumvention of the merit principles upon which our civil service is based,” said Michelle Bercovici, a partner with the Alden Law Group, in a statement. ”These hard-working employees should have the opportunity to let their work speak for itself.”
A coalition of state attorneys general sued (PDF) Musk for his role at DOGE and inside federal agencies, equating the tech billionaire to a monarch through “virtually unchecked authority” through his access to sensitive records at the Treasury Department, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), HHS and other agencies.
Another lawsuit (PDF) by anonymous USAID employees outlined Musk’s “slash-and-burn” strategy at agencies to “identify personnel for termination and contracts for freezing” before overhauling whole departments. Earlier this month, the government enacted a federal funding freeze, which was later temporarily halted by the courts.
Ahead of RFK Jr.’s confirmation by the Senate, reports emerged HHS was readying up to layoff probationary workers.
Federal contracts dealt out by HHS have also been eliminated over recent weeks, Musk has repeatedly posted on X.
This is a developing story.
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It's also said that the layoffs of FBI agents will make the nation less safe... more likely stop the sting operations... how many of them were there at J6? So it goes with HHS where bad science in Big Pharma's favor is the norm... I could personally cut health care costs by 75% just with preventative care.. but that is not good for the economy.
Hello Journalist. You state in your lede that CDC is a "distinguished" organization. Would you care to cite some public health numbers about chronic illness rate or life expectancy that makes them so distinguished?
Trillions of dollars gone and we were better off 40 years ago.
Oh, and if you respond with talk of "global pandemic" you are making my point.