A government shutdown would leave HHS with about half of its staff, with 42% furloughed on the second day of closure.
The finding comes from a contingency plan that HHS updated Sept. 21. Funding expires Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.
Approximately 51,293 HHS staff will be retained and 37,325 will be furloughed as of day two of a funding hiatus. The agency said it will retain a “limited number of staff” to perform the necessarily implied work to support Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory health program payments, Becker’s reports.
Roughly half of CMS employees will be furloughed, with the agency noting that only 49% of staff will be retained. Of those, 5% are excluded from furlough because their work is “necessarily implied” from the authorized continuation of other activities. The agency notes that those 308 employees will primarily be working to ensure that funded activities, such as the Medicare program, continue operations. Read more.
