Three federal health agencies are remaking their workforces this spring, with the Department of Health and Human Services trimming performance bonuses, the Department of Veterans Affairs reviving a long-stalled electronic health record rollout and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launching a 1,200-person hiring surge focused on fraud detection.

HHS shifts award dollars from performance to "special act" bonuses

HHS is scaling back performance-based cash awards and redirecting most bonus funding to "special act" awards tied to the Trump administration's efficiency and antifraud priorities, Federal News Network reported 21 May 2026. A 12 May internal email at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told managers that 2025 performance awards "are undergoing a reduction in dollar amounts." CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry historically spent roughly 80 percent of their awards pool on performance bonuses; that share is now capped at 40 percent, with incentive awards making up the other 60 percent.

Top-rated CDC employees, previously promised a 4 percent bonus, will now average 2.58 percent—about a third less. HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard said the new framework "standardizes how awards funding is distributed" and rewards "mission-critical contributions throughout the year." One CDC employee called the cut an "attempt to demoralize us further." The change also undercuts an Office of Personnel Management memo urging agencies to reserve at least 60 percent of bonus pools for top performers, though OPM said final discretion rests with agencies.

VA restarts Oracle-Cerner EHR rollout to bipartisan applause

VA is winning rare bipartisan praise for its resumed Oracle-Cerner EHR deployment, Federal News Network reported 22 May 2026. After a three-year pause, VA went live at four Michigan sites in April and now runs the system at 10 of an eventual 170 locations. Secretary Doug Collins called the Michigan launch "phenomenal" and told the Senate VA Committee that more facilities want to move up in line. Full deployment is projected by 2031, with the fiscal 2027 budget request seeking $4.2 billion — an $800 million increase.

Employee groups remain wary. National Federation of Federal Employees representative Jacob Pannell said clinicians at earlier go-live sites still report "the exact same problems" from 2020 through 2022, including slow workflows and lingering interoperability gaps with the legacy system. VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven countered that the agency has shipped nearly 1,500 fixes and that the new system has met uptime requirements 96.68 percent of the time over the past 18 months.

CMS targets 1,200 hires to chase fraud with AI

CMS is hiring roughly 1,200 employees, Federal News Network reported 26 May 2026, after shedding 15 percent of its workforce in 2024. Acting Office of Information Technology Deputy Director Tiffany Swygert said about 100 hires will join OIT as full-stack engineers, cybersecurity professionals and managers, part of an effort to "reduce our reliance on contractors." Eighty percent of CMS staff already use artificial intelligence tools, saving 11,000 work hours each week.

The Center for Program Integrity is also recruiting data scientists, forensic accountants and software engineers. Acting Deputy Director Bethany Messick said the agency's Fraud Defense Operations Center has assessed 300 Medicare providers and recovered roughly $2 billion, and is now eyeing agentic AI to extend those wins into Medicaid. Administrator Mehmet Oz is crowdsourcing fraud-fighting ideas as part of the Trump administration's governmentwide task force.