Two physician groups, the Society of General Internal Medicine and the North American Primary Care Research Group, have sued the Department of Health and Human Services for putting a halt to research grants administered by the agency’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The lawsuit focuses on the downsizing of the AHRQ. The downsizing this year was part of a series of deep cuts to HHS, which targeted researchers, doctors, scientists and support staff as well as leadership.
The steep cuts are largely attributable to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed to lead the department in February. Under Kennedy, HHS said the layoffs would save about $1.8 billion annually from the department's $1.7 trillion budget. That's roughly 0.1%. Most of that money is spent on Medicare and Medicaid coverage for Americans.
In the lawsuit, the groups claim that AHRQ informed them in July that it could no longer issue grant funding due to a lack of grant administration staff. AHRQ also was unable to provide clarity on whether it would be able to spend the funds that had already been budgeted for this year.
The plaintiffs said that by ceasing the grantmaking process, AHRQ is violating statutory and regulatory requirements and has resulted in “an unlawful impound of millions of dollars that Congress expected and instructed AHRQ to spend on grantmaking and other research functions.”
The groups are asking the court to find the cessation of grantmaking unlawful, and to require AHRQ to restart the grantmaking process.
WHAT’S THE IMPACT
The HHS plan includes consolidating the 28 divisions of the agency to 15, including a new Administration for a Healthy America.
The new division combines the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health into a single entity.
HHS said the changes would not impact critical services and would make it "more responsive and efficient while ensuring that Medicare, Medicaid, and other essential health services remain intact."
In May, 19 states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit seeking to block HHS’ restructuring, claiming the federal government's push to reshape the agency is "unconstitutional and illegal.” The suit claimed that the moves that have been made as part of the restructuring – which center around removing or consolidating divisions within the agency – have violated "hundreds" of laws and circumvented Congressional approval, calling the impacts "immediate and disastrous."
Programs serving children and low-income families have been particularly devastated, the lawsuit said, while the administration also fired staff responsible for maintaining the federal poverty guidelines, slashed the workforce at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s maternal health team.
THE LARGER TREND
When HHS' restructuring plan was announced, it drew strong reactions from healthcare organizations that work with senior Medicare beneficiaries, including Campaigns and Advocacy at Caring Across Generations, with chief Nicole Jorwic saying in March that her group was "deeply worried that organizational changes and workforce reductions will only exacerbate our country's patchwork care infrastructure that millions of families are already struggling from."