HHS issues memo cutting off communications for health agencies: shots fired

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services employees were asked to suspend all public communications on Tuesday.

NPR obtained a memo issued by Acting HHS Director Dorothy Fink to the heads of all of the agency’s operating divisions, ordering them to refrain from most external communications such as the release of documents, directives or notice until such documents can be approved by “an appointee of the President.” »

The action is “consistent with precedent,” according to the memo, and applies until February 1. The communications freeze was first reported by the Washington Post. This includes public speaking and social media.

“I’m watching what’s happening as this administration comes in and puts its ducks in a row,” said one federal official, who spoke to NPR on the condition that he not be named for fear his job would be threatened . “I think it will be temporary. To what extent? That remains to be seen. There’s a lot of discussion going on right now.”

An HHS employee who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity out of fear for his job said it was unclear whether his team would receive permission to release the information it had planned to release this week.

Dr. Georges Benjamin, president of the American Public Health Association, said he gave the HHS team that issued the memo “the benefit of the doubt: They’re just trying to get their hands on the administration – it ‘is a big government.’ ” He found the note surprising and said it could create confusion.

He also claimed the pause could have been avoided if there had been a smoother transition between the Biden and Trump administrations.

The head of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Dr. Joseph Kanter, wrote to NPR in a statement that his group’s assumption is that “the new administration is taking time to assess the landscape current state of public health. He added that he understands the pause in communication “will be short-lived and there is an expedited pathway to ensure critical information reaches clinicians and health officials in a timely manner.”

There are 13 operating divisions at HHS, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, and the National Institutes of Health, among other lesser-known health agencies. Overall, HHS has one of the largest budgets in the federal government – ​​$1.7 trillion a year – and employs about 90,000 people across these agencies.

Fink wrote in Tuesday’s memo that some exceptions would be made for communications affecting “critical health, safety, environmental, financial or national security functions” but that these would be subject to review. He also warned that any material or action inconsistent with the reconsideration request should be immediately withdrawn.

The HHS media relations team did not respond to a request for comment on the communications pause. When NPR attempted to reach CMS and FDA, they referred inquiries to HHS. Media contacts at HRSA and NIH did not respond to requests for comment.

Stefanie Spear, a longtime ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead HHS, currently works as a senior advisor to the Secretary of Health and principal deputy chief of staff. Spear did not respond to NPR’s request for comment. Kennedy’s confirmation hearing has not been scheduled, and his prospects for Senate confirmation are unclear.

Will Stone and Carmel Wroth contributed reporting.