with reorganization From the US Department of Health and Humanitarian Services announced last week, there was little explanation for the reason The entire departments were cut off. No analyzes were also shared on how to manage information technology and digital infrastructure systems, as its security and program operations were maintained after the intended disorder.
Without such analyzes or transparency on the plans after the discounts, the legislators and others can only predict the effects of employees and contract cuts on these systems and the people who depend on them. It is not clear whether the departments have any acquisition, financial supervision, or strategic continuity.
HHS via e -mail said on Monday that their leaders focus on reducing employees on “extra or unnecessary administrative jobs”, according to the information provided as a background by the deputy press secretary in the department and pointed out to the previous one. statementand Fact paper Minister Robert F. Kennedy social media mail.
We met two people who have internal knowledge of discounts in the higher executive service last week in the office of the chief information employee and lead the contract in a data project that is still running to obtain their views.
Loss of knowledge transfer leaders
“It was a great shock to everyone,” said a former leader with a rich biography in the software leadership of health technology through many federal agencies.
They said: “The entire Information Technology Department was RIFD. It includes our chief information officials, our chief security officials and all the information technology people who manage the agency’s information technology.”
“The Management Services Office that has human resources and contracts – all were also RIFD.”
They said that the former hybrid employee is full -time with the direct knowledge of OCIO operations a choice of retirement that maintains his advantages and pushes the activity until September 30.
And they said to Health care news Tuesday. “None of the big presidents had any insight into this. Nothing. No one.”
According to the deputy secretary of HHS, he presents the background, through the 28 divisions of the administration, she had 41 information employees.
But the idea that there are many owners of ownership can be excessive simplification when the huge amount of data and systems of the second largest federal ministry in the country is considered.
“It was very heavy,” they confessed.
“Part of that was the specialization of systems, the special knowledge you need with these systems, the capabilities you need, and some development teams that you need because they have very unique applications – especially in [National Institutes of Health]”Explain.
“They are changing frequently because you are in a development environment. You must be ready and be very flexible and graceful and you must have different types of security papers and government compliance that you need for these systems.”
While some believe that the administration’s CIO names were “regional”, the huge number of systems and their complications explain a degree of necessity.
They said, “He has no HHS not uncommon,” adding that there are efforts to unite CIO roles.
But with SES all of them from OCIO – through a fork in the volunteer road and retirement program or by reducing on April 1 – it is not possible to reduce the loss of politics, governance and function in HHS.
HHS in cleansing is the government professionals who have received 20-30 years of institutional knowledge.
“We were all politics, we were all the ruling, we did not return to it [Office of Management and Budget]They said.
“Since it is the arm of the policy, I have pulled it. Now, we cannot transfer any of the information you need for Congress, OMB or financing – we cannot issue policies and guidelines down. They have mainly paralyzed the system.”
When they were asked about the current holes in overseeing and operating the digital infrastructure of the administration, they recorded interest in cybersecurity and data reports.
“Well, we left the progress of cybersecurity,” they said.
“You affect development, affect growth, affect research systems, affect facilities systems, and even tracking these high -value assets is an effect because these critical systems of the task.
“Now we have anyone to inform him too, because they essentially got rid of SES who manage security.”
Some HHS leaders have been offered the option to move to a new job in Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, according to the General National Radio.
“They told him to move to Montana, and it was the one who was leading all rule and politics,” they said.
Some health leaders were It was offered a transfer to Indian health servicesAccording to the report. Their work often focused on creating government partnerships to better protect care providers in the critical health care sector.
La Monte Yarborough, the chief leading information security official at HHS since January 2022, who previously worked as two years as CISO for the HHS Inspector Office, has with us last year about The Ministry of Cyber Security Awareness of the Ministry To support parking for cybersecurity for health care organizations.
We have contacted HHS again on Tuesday, and we asked for a statement on how SES employees decreased from OCIO in defining the department to excess or unnecessary administrative positions, and we will update this story when and if there is another response to our questions.
Delete the entire operations
HHS, who was affected by the power reduction discounts, said.
“Even if there are employees of the program, to work effectively in the government, you still have contracts,” they said.
“Still needs government equipment, [personal identity verification] Cards for contractors. None of this can happen without what the official’s support describes. It is a special problem for our division to it because it does things like overseeing our cloud environment and managing government sites.
They said: “At the present time, you have scenarios in which this tractor works, but they do not have artistic supervision at the present time because all business technology owners are government officials, they are RIFD.”
HHS noticed that there are “dozens of IT departments”, along with 40 purchase departments and eight senior financial officials.
The administration said that reorganization from 28 to 15 parts are necessary, and it is now separating the structure of each re -definition section to simplify the operations and enhance the response to the American people, and in the end improving the health of the nation as part of the Make America’s health initiative again.
“I don’t think there is any plan for how to do this now. Meanwhile, you have everything that exists without supervision or even the ability to accomplish matters in the meantime,” they said.
According to SES OCIO Insider with which we talked to, HHS is looking for the centralization of development in the IT centers at the National Health Institutes.
“This is not really their mission,” they said. In addition to supporting the universities and job campus, “they now have to support all the information technology structure and be the central axis.”
“They don’t even have network diagrams or understand all ingredients.”
Possible cracks to follow the discounts
“I think the big data programs in ASFR respond to coordination and data integration depend on the contractor’s support,” said HHS IT employee.
This team is supposed to merge with the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation to create a new strategy office.
They said: “I think there is a lot of work that must be done to know how to maintain the basic movement, both consciously or also in the future.”
Restart HHS operating functions
“I think people first will have to realize what they lack,” said Ocano Insider, such as Head Start, for children’s health insurance program, government research grant financing, many university partnerships, and lead pencils in developing new treatments.
“The clinical center has been closed.” “People were more tense during this time than they were during Covid because you did not have the freedom to treat people.”
Without anyone overseeing HHS contracts, whatever it is, cybersecurity, and creating innovation, there is likely to be likely to go to a contracting federal workforce.
“But again, they just launched all the people who run the contracts and run [human resources]They said.
Ethical connection to employees
After two decades of service, SES OCIO Insider also said that he could see where the agency is going, “especially when they started pushing us to offices.”
President Donald Trump asked about the productivity of federal employees working from the home and ordered to return to federal offices by the end of January. In some cases, overcrowding in offices Excessive reliance on communication It also reduced employee productivity and the provision of troubled services.
“We had no office space. We had no space … you had no privacy or secret,” they said.
Contractors can hear “every word you said.”
The ends quickly came that some of the employees supervising the contracts did not see their RIF messages via e -mail after 5 am on April 1 when they were closed from networks in the middle of the day.
HHS IT employee, who was with the agency for more than a decade, spoke on the condition that his identity is not disclosed because they expect their official termination of the benefits and payment to be on June 2, has a direct practical knowledge of data contracts. They described sitting on their office and they could not suddenly reach anything, including their email.
“I think now, given that we have not provided full and accurate information to separate us, we are still waiting for clarity in some of these details before we can move forward and start new jobs.”
They also said they might be on a short menu to be reformulated, as they were appointed to oversee the HHS program currently active.
But there is “a ban on ethics on federal employees to work as a contractor on the things they previously participated,” they pointed out.
“From what I understand, the contracts, and the big writing in the government are at risk, and some are ended or reduced, so I think it is certainly not the contracts.”
Andrea Fox is a great health care editor.
Email: Afox@himss.org
Healthcare is Hosz News.
