The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ reductions are due to the federal government’s “abrupt and immediate termination of several federal grants,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
(WRAL) — The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is planning to cut 80 jobs and will lose more than $100 million in funding.
The reductions are due to the federal government’s “abrupt and immediate termination of several federal grants,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.
The cuts are part of the Trump administration cutting $12 billion in federal grants to state health services.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday said it would eliminate 10,000 more jobs as it restructures. Overall, the agency, which is responsible for monitoring infectious diseases, inspecting foods and hospitals and overseeing health insurance programs for nearly half the country, says it will decrease its workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 positions. That includes 10,000 in layoffs as well as another 10,000 workers who are taking early retirements or buyout offers that were given to nearly all federal employees by the Trump administration.
The $100 million North Carolina is losing in funding directly contributes to the “health, safety and wellbeing of the people we serve,” the NCDHHS spokesperson wrote.
Specifically, the federal grant funding impacts several areas of work, including immunization efforts, funding for the new NC Immunization Registry, infectious disease monitoring and response, behavioral health, substance use disorder services and more. Some of the impacted funding supports work that is done by local health departments, universities, hospitals and local departments of social services.
The NCDHHS is also putting impacted vendors on notice to pause work supported by the funding.