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HHS reorganization, budget cuts prompt concern for Benton County health services
Summary
County health leaders told the Benton County Board of Commissioners that a proposed HHS reorganization, recent HRSA reductions in force and tighter federal drawdown rules are already slowing customer service, reducing grant support and increasing financial uncertainty for local community health programs.
Lacey Molow, CHC executive director, told the Benton County Board of Commissioners on the morning of the meeting that changes in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) organization and proposed budget cuts are already affecting local health center operations and grant administration.
Molow said the proposed HHS draft budget and related reorganizations were “changing in real time” but that the department’s Community Health Center (CHC) funding stream — administered through HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care — is being folded into a newly described “Administration for a Healthy America” and that multiple agencies and offices are being consolidated under that umbrella.
County leaders said those federal shifts are translating to immediate operational impacts locally. Molow described HRSA reductions in force affecting program offices that provide technical support and supplemental grants, and she said agencies including SAMHSA and parts of CDC were being moved or reduced. “We have definitely been experiencing a delay in…
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