Trump administration to replace HHS Inspector General

Photo Cred: Jens Junge/Pixabay

By Katherine Shagoury

President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he intends to replace Christi Grimm, Principal Deputy Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG).

In the announcement, Trump nominated Jason Weida, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, for the position. He previously served at the Department of Justice in Washington D.C. in the Office of Legal Policy. The nomination must be approved by the Senate.

The notice comes weeks after the office released a report on April 6 detailing shortages of medical equipment and supplies during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In addition to issuing the report on the hospital issues, OIG also announced in April several new investigations of HHS’s response to the pandemic, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) internal controls related to hospital preparedness for emerging epidemics, such as COVID-19; the department’s management of the National Strategic Stockpile of medical equipment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s role in facilitating COVID-19, and the HHS’s distribution of testing kits.

Editor’s note: Click here for more information and ongoing COVID-19 updates for integrative healthcare professionals.