HHS Shuts Down Minority Health Offices — CLAS Training Infrastructure at Risk for FQHCs

The CMS Office of Minority Health (~40 employees eliminated) and HHS Office of Minority Health have been restructured under federal cost-cutting. OMH sponsors Think Cultural Health and free CLAS Standards training that FQHCs rely on for staff cultural competency education. CMS funding would drop $674M, explicitly eliminating health equity funding categories. FQHCs may need to self-fund cultural competency training previously available free from HHS. FY2026 budget proposes ~26% cut to HHS discretionary spending.