In February 2023, Biden launched three models .. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/cmmi-releases-three-new-models-aimed-lower-generic-novel-drug-costs .. to lower the price of drugs. They are yet to begin but were implemented to lower the cost of cell and gene therapies, cap certain generic drugs at a $2 monthly out-of-pocket price and accelerate Food and Drug Administration approval for drugs that address unmet medical needs.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced last month it successfully negotiated agreements .. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/cms-names-two-drug-manufacturers-cell-and-gene-therapy-model .. with two drug manufacturers, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and bluebird bio, for the cell and gene therapy model. Liz Fowler, Ph.D., deputy administrator and director of the CMS Innovation Center, said the model would help state Medicaid finances. Medicaid spending is expected to be slashed substantially in a reconciliation bill this year if Republicans are able to come to an agreement.
Trump and his allies' promises to overhaul federal workforce policies took shape on Inauguration Day and will likely impact government healthcare agencies like the HHS or the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Off the bat, Trump ordered a hiring freeze .. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/hiring-freeze/ .. applying to civilian roles across all parts of the executive branch, with exceptions made for the armed forces, immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
The freeze will stay in place until a plan is submitted by the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel Management and the newly formed U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) "to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition." The report is to be issued within 90 days, though a hiring freeze will remain in place for the IRS.
The DOGE is a government efficiency office Trump said would be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. It is formally instructed to modernize governmentwide software and IT systems to promote efficiency and interoperability between agencies as well as to provide "advice and recommendations as appropriate" to agency heads developing new HR best practices. Musk and Ramaswamy have previously said their work will serve to reduce head counts across government agencies.
A top-line focus is to remove race, religion, sex and "one's commitment to the invested concept of 'gender identity' over sex" from factors considered during hiring. This falls in line with other actions taken by the president Monday in opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, such as an executive order "Ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and Preferencing" .. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/ .. and the rescinding of Biden's "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce" executive order.
However, it also aims to decrease time-to-hire to fewer than 80 days, integrate "modern technology" such as digital platforms or data analytics in hiring processes and "improve the allocation of senior executive service positions" across agencies and offices.
[Insert: Gotta love the political stick in the title, it suggests there has not been any accountability during the Biden administration. And, of course, the order makes it easier to cut any who disagree at all with the Trump agenda. It's called, i think, 'politicizing the public service' who are supposed to be political.]
Specifically, the orders reads that "[senior executive service] officials who engage in unauthorized disclosure of Executive Branch deliberations, violate the constitutional rights of Americans, refuse to implement policy priorities, or perform their duties inefficiently or negligently should be held accountable."
Trump's federal workforce goals have already garnered pushback from his opponents. One lawsuit filed late Monday .. https://www.citizen.org/news/public-citizen-sddf-and-afge-sue-trump-administration-over-doge/ .. by Public Citizen, the State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees argues that the administration's DOGE is violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act "because DOGE’s members do not have a fair balance of viewpoints, meetings are held in secret and without public notice, and records and work product are not available to the public," the groups said Monday.
“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue,” the WHO said in a statement responding to the order.
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