The CMS and HHS offices that coordinate efforts to eliminate health disparities are being shut down completely as part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal healthcare department, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The closures could hamper government efforts to improve healthcare for underserved Americans, including racial and ethnic minorities and patients in rural areas, said HHS officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Trump administration.
Shutting the offices, which were authorized by the Affordable Care Act more than a decade ago, may also be illegal, according to legal experts.
The CMS Office of Minority Health and the HHS Office of Minority Health are likely victims of the Trump administration’s ideological campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.
One CMS staffer said that members of the Department of Government Efficiency — the team of cost-cutters led by billionaire Elon Musk that appear to be dictating extensive cuts to the federal workforce — probably didn’t even know what work the CMS OMH did before deciding to shut it down.
“We’ve all seen that nuance is not DOGE’s strength. Because our office has the word ‘minority’ in it, and the words ‘health equity’ were all over our previous website — and ‘equity’ is obviously a part of DEI — these idiots at DOGE can’t see past that,” they said.
Originally, the Trump administration planned to cut the majority of CMS OMH staffers, but let the office survive in a minimized state, according to an HHS source with knowledge of the situation.
But something changed the day before the reorganization was announced late last week, leading DOGE to decide to cut the entire office.
The closure of the CMS OMH will affect about 40 employees — roughly 13% of the 300 jobs that will be cut at the agency that oversees health insurance programs for 160 million Americans, along with other vital healthcare functions.
The CMS OMH coordinates CMS programs overseeing rural health and proposes initiatives to improve it. The office also co-leads Medicare’s efforts to prevent and stop the progression of diabetes, and creates tools for researchers and the public to understand disparities in medical care across the U.S.
Health plans and other organizations use CMS OMH data to identify patient populations that may need more assistance and work to improve their care, according to a staffer. The office also develops measures used by other departments in their regulations.
Similarly, the HHS OMH promotes policies and provides grants to community groups improving health equity, according to an archive of its website.
Websites for numerous minority health offices, including the HHS OMH, the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Office of Health Equity, were taken down after President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for federal agencies to end DEI initiatives earlier this year.
Some of the pages were later brought back online, though the HHS OMH’s website remains down.
Trump administration officials plan to redistribute some of the CMS OMH’s functions to other CMS centers, according to sources, though it’s not clear what programs will be retained or where they’ll end up. A spokesperson for the department did not respond to a request for comment.
But staffers are skeptical that any of the OMH’s functions will be retained, given other Trump administration actions rolling back efforts to close gaps in healthcare quality and access — a key priority of the Biden administration.
And if they are, decentralizing them could hamper efforts to improve health disparities in the U.S., a country that remains dogged by unequal access to and quality of medical care.
