Trump Administration Shutting Down HHS Legal Offices That Help Fight Fraud [View all]
Source: Huff Post
Mar 11, 2025, 09:18 PM EDT
The Trump administration plans to shut down a half dozen regional offices at the Department of Health and Human Services that work on everything from violations of nursing home safety standards to fraudulent hospital billing. The regional offices are part of the Office of General Counsel, whose attorneys are basically the in-house lawyers for HHS. They advise the massive agency on how to write, publicize and enforce standards for a variety of federal health programs ― and what to do when a person, organization or business may be violating those standards.
The Trump administration’s plan is to reduce the number of regional offices from 10 to four, by eliminating the ones in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. That would leave four branches, one each in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City and Philadelphia.
HHS Acting General Counsel Sean Keveney announced the change during a 1 p.m. phone call Tuesday, according to several current and former HHS employees who spoke to HuffPost and requested anonymity. During the call, Keveney said the department’s goal was to reduce staffing to 90% of its 2019 level, the sources told HuffPost, although they added he did not make clear whether closing the regional offices meant all staff in these offices would lose their jobs.
An announcement that HHS posted online Tuesday explained the move “as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to advance the Secretary Kennedy’s mission to Make America Healthy Again.” This “consolidation,” the announcement said, “will provide the same geographic support for regional HHS offices at lower operating costs.”
Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-hhs-close-regional-legal-offices_n_67d0c2afe4b08ae973d9446e
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