April 2025 Newsletter
Prepared by Van Scoyoc Associates 

Mass Layoffs at HHS
On April 1, many Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees were laid off or put on leave in an effort to “realign HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.” At the National Institutes of Health (NIH), several directors including the directors of the National Institute of Nursing Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Human Genome Research Institute, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease were put on administrative leave. Read more here.

ONDCP Releases Trump Administration’s Statement of Drug Policy Priorities
On April 3, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced the release of the Trump Administration’s Drug Policy Priorities. Read more here.

Fewer than One in Five Medicare Enrollees Received Medication to Treat Their Opioid Use Disorder
On April 9, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommended CMS conduct additional outreach to beneficiaries about Medicare coverage for MOUD and naloxone. Read more here.

Marijuana Rescheduling Still on Hold
According to an April 10 court filing, marijuana rescheduling is still on hold. The report comes three months after lawyers for two cannabis companies filed a motion asking that the judge handling the review investigate allegations that the DEA was communicating inappropriately with anti-cannabis groups ahead of the hearing. Read more here. 

New Data Show Role of Medicaid in Combating the Fentanyl Crisis 
On April 14, Joint Economic Committee Democrats released a report that outlines the importance of Medicaid in combatting the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis. Read more here.

Rep. DeGette Writes Op-Ed on NIH
On April 14, Rep. Diana DeGette, Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, published an op-ed expressing her concerns about the current state of affairs at the NIH, asserting that current actions are a threat to America's leadership in biomedicine. Read more here.

Changes to HHS and NIH Grants Policy Announced
On April 16, HHS issued a new grants policy statement, effective immediately and superseding the previous version released in October 2024. Among significant changes to the policy, HHS states that recipients who receive a federal grant award will not “operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws” or engage in a “discriminatory prohibited boycott” during the term of the award and that HHS “reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and claw back all funds” if these conditions are not met. While the HHS policy is not applicable to NIH grants, which are governed by the 2024 NIH Grants Policy Statement, on April 21, NIH released a similar update as HHS to their term and condition of award.

NIH HEAL Initiative 2025 Annual Report
On April 18, as part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative monthly digest, the HEAL Initiative 2025 annual report was highlighted. Read more here. 

New Home for Extramural Nexus on the NIH Grants and Funding Website
On April 25, NIH announced that NIH grants news has moved to the NIH Grants and Funding website to consolidate resources for those involved in the grants process. In addition, Extramural Nexus news and content will now be featured within the News & Events section. NIH shared that over the next few months, older popular content will be refreshed and released, and historical blog posts will be migrated. Read more here.

New Federally Backed Marijuana Research Center Launches
The University of Mississippi has been selected to house the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Resource Center for Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research (R3CR), first announced by the agency in late 2023. They will be partnering with Washington State University (WSU) and the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), with support from a grant awarded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). Read more here.

DOGE Begins to Freeze Health-Care Payments for Extra Review
The U.S. DOGE Service is putting new curbs on billions of dollars in federal health-care grants, requiring government officials to manually review and approve previously routine payments. The effort, which DOGE has dubbed “Defend the Spend,” is requiring organizations to include a justification for each transaction before Federal officials review the justification and decide whether to approve the payment. Read more here.