Details on the restructuring

In the announcement, HHS said it will reduce its workforce by cutting around 10,000 full-time employees, which the department said will save $1.8 billion per year.

According to the Wall Street Journal, HHS intends to cut:

• 3,500 full-time employees from FDA (around 19% of its workforce)
• 2,400 employees from CDC (around 18% of its workforce)
• 1,200 employees from NIH (around 6% of its workforce)
• 300 employees from CMS (around 4% of its workforce)

HHS said that job cuts will not affect FDA's inspectors or drug, medical device, or food reviewers. When combined with HHS' other efforts to reduce its workforce, the department said it will ultimately downsize from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees.

The Administration for a Healthy America's work will focus on "areas including primary care, maternal and child health, mental health, environmental health, HIV/AIDS, and workforce development" for low-income Americans, HHS said.

In addition, HHS announced the following changes:

• The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which is responsible for national disaster and public health emergency response, will be transferred to CDC.
• HHS will create a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement that will oversee the Departmental Appeals Board, Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals, and the Office for Civil Rights.
• The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation will be merged with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality into a new Office of Strategy.
• Programs that "support older adults and people with disabilities" will be integrated within other HHS agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families and CMS.

"Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants," said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "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."