Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard E. Neal (D-MA), along with every other Ways and Means Democrat, wrote to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., demanding answers on the closure of half of all HHS Regional Offices. The closure of these critical offices will lead to coverage gaps, overtaxing the remaining offices, a devastating loss of local institutional knowledge, and excessive travel for health inspectors. Our communities will be more dangerous and sicker because of these closures.
The affected Regional Offices (RO) were located in Boston, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle, representing predominately Democratic-run areas. This gross act of retribution, along with compromising the health of 166 million Americans, will only put the remaining ROs under even more stress, with long delays and skyrocketing caseloads as a consequence of the brutal cuts.
“Since 1974 when the Nixon Administration created the 10-region structure to facilitate efficiency and collaboration at a local level, ROs have partnered with state and local communities to ensure that nursing homes and child care centers are safe, local fraud is rooted out, federal law is followed, and state and local communities have a voice in federal policies," Ways and Means Democrats emphasized. "Eliminating these functions in half of the country will harm the health and safety of local communities and risks inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars by eroding oversight over programs like Medicare and Medicaid.”
The lawmakers continued, “Staff in these offices work on essential functions to improve quality and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in federal health care programs and ensure human service programs support vulnerable children and families—the value these offices bring to all of our communities cannot be overstated.
Finally, the Ways and Means Democrats wrote: "Simply put, they make our communities healthier and safer for us all.”
Read the full letter HERE.
Ways and Means Democrats are demanding answers to the following questions:
- Please provide a full comparative analysis of the metrics and rationale used to guide the closure determinations across the five ROs, including all documentation from the Department.
- Please provide a detailed description of the changes and reductions in services that will result in each of the 10 HHS regions as a result of these closures.
- Please provide copies of any notifications to staff, states, territories, health providers, or other entities overseen by the regional offices informing them of the office closures and outlining procedures for them to communicate with the agency in the future.
- Please detail how many RO employees were terminated as a result of the regional office closures, as well as how many employees have already left since January 20, 2025. In this report, please detail how many took the “Fork in the Road,” how many retired, how many probationary employees were terminated (including an indication for those who were eventually reinstated), and how many were fired or reassigned, by region, based on the restructuring announced on March 27, 2025, and carried out on April 1, 2025.
- Please detail which operating and staff divisions will be represented by the five remaining regional offices and how the local expertise from the current regional offices is going to be transferred to the other regions.
- Please describe how current staff at the ROs that will remain open will be able to maintain the current workload and absorb that of additional states and territories in each of the new five regions? How will the new regions be determined?
- Please detail how survey and certification for these regions will be affected by the closures and reassignments. How many employees worked on survey and certification in the regional offices as of January 20, 2025, and how many will continue to work on survey and certification with this restructuring?
- Please detail the restructuring as it relates to the OIG. Was the OIG consulted for these restructuring? Was local law enforcement consulted? How many employees worked at the HHS OIG at these regional offices as of January 20, 2025, and how many will work at the five new regional offices. Please provide documentation from a full department analysis on the effects these reductions in force will have on rooting out local fraud, waste, and abuse in federal health programs.
- Is HHS increasing the travel budget for regional offices to reflect the increased areas for which the staff will be responsible? Will the $1 limit on credit cards remain such that travel to various states within these larger regions be made impossible?
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