HHS plans to furlough more than 40% of staff if government shuts down

Dive Brief:

The HHS plans to furlough 32,460 employees — roughly 41% of its total workforce — if the government shuts down, an event that looks like a near-certainty amid deadlocked funding discussions on Capitol Hill.

The furloughs, which the HHS laid out in a contingency plan , would represent another hit to the massive federal healthcare department, which has already lost thousands of staffers this year amid Trump administration workforce cuts.

A shutdown would hit HHS agencies differently depending on their function and how they’re funded. For example, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which conducts health services research, would lose 90% of its staff, while no staff would be furloughed at the Indian Health Service, which received advance funding for 2026.

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