DOGE stalls healthcare payments: 6 things to know – Becker’s Hospital Review

The Department of Efficiency of the US Government (DOGE) has imposed new restrictions on federal healthcare grant paying the distribution of funds for health centers and other grant, as reported, as reported. Washington Post On 17 April.

Here are six things to know:

1. Doge has initiated an initiative called “Defend the Expenditure”, requiring all federal healthcare grant payments, which is to undergo manual reviews and justification before approval – a major change from the previous automatic system.
2. The new procedure has created a backlog of payment, delaying the amount for essential services at salary, medical supply and health centers that serve low income and without patients. Some payments required last week have not been released yet.
3. The review process has been implemented in agencies including National Institute of Health and Administration for children and families. Federal officials say they have received inconsistent instructions and are uncertain when the payment starts again.
4. According to internal briefing cited by Washington PostOnly President Trump political appointments are authorized to approve Fund disburses. Payment justification will now be shown how funds align with the preferences of the Trump administration.
5. Critics, including former HHS officials, warned that the move could harm significant health programs. An NIH employee allegedly told the colleagues: “The bottom line is that no one is getting any money yet.” Despite Doga’s claim that the initiative promotes transparency and combat garbage, a sudden rollout has left thousands of subsidies in Limbo.
6. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that the DOGE initiative is to prevent fraud and misconduct, saying that “the era of rubber stamming is over.” The agency stressed that the change would not be a threat to “support for important programs”.

Baker HHS reached HHS and will update the story if more information is learned.