Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said it's preparing for what it believes will be "devastating federal cuts" that could impact the quality of care it provides to the community.
In an open letter to staff and the broader community, the university said it's experiencing a "steady stream" of research grant terminations, suspensions and delays. In March, it lost more than $800 million from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) grant terminations, and since January has had 90 grants terminated by other agencies.
This, the university said, has resulted in the loss of more than $50 million in federal research funding, with more cuts arriving nearly every week.
Johns Hopkins University encompasses John Hopkins Medicine, which in turn is the parent organization of Johns Hopkins Health System.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT
The university added that it's seeing a marked decline in the pipeline of new federal research awards – down by nearly two-third since January, compared to the same period last year. That's despite an increase in research submissions.
University officials fear this downward trend may be a bellwether for deep cuts to extramural research programs at the National Institutes of Health, the Departments of Defense and Education and other entities.
Johns Hopkins also criticized recent moves by the federal government to revoke or withhold visas from eligible international students and scholars, saying it runs counter to a long history of collaboration with students and scholars from around the world.
"Our international community has always been critical to our research mission, and we are deeply concerned about the toll of this uncertainty on our students and on our university as a whole," the letter read.
The university has already paused annual pay increases for employees earning more than $80,000 per year, though it said it will re-evaluate this pause if its financial outlook stabilizes. There's also a freeze on new staff hiring, and Johns Hopkins is reducing capital construction and renovation plans by about 10% to 20%.
THE LARGER TREND
In March, Johns Hopkins announced it would lay off 237 people in Baltimore, according to two Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices. The layoffs included 107 staffers at Johns Hopkins University Center for Communications Programs and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Another 130 people were affiliated with the Jhpiego Corporation, a nonprofit organization for international health affiliated with Johns Hopkins University.
Harvard University has also seen federal research grant funding slashed.
The Trump administration said last month it would no longer provide research grants to Harvard, with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon informing Harvard in a letter, which was posted to X, that grants would be halted after a "comprehensive review" of roughly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts.
McMahon slammed the university for enrolling foreign-born students, for lowering its math standards and for "hateful discrimination."
Harvard University's research grants are frequently directed toward healthcare research. Funding comes from various sources, including federal grants like those from the National Institutes of Health and internal funding sources like the HBI ALS Seed Grant Program and the Harvard Brain Science Initiative, which support research across a range of medical fields, including cancer immunotherapy, tuberculosis treatment and pandemic preparedness.
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.