The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been instructed to prepare for “thousands” of jobs to be cut at the agency as a result of an upcoming executive order from President Donald Trump, a new report claims. 

According to coverage in the Wall Street Journal, leadership at HHS has been told to rank probationary workers as the Trump Administration prepares to announce layoffs. However, for now, the still-unconfirmed order appears to apply only to probationary staff—those who have been with the agency for one or two years.

As the basis for the report, the Wall Street Journal cites anonymous internal sources, who said the edict was expected to be signed sometime next week. However, the White House denied any such executive order was coming when reporters attempted to corroborate the story.

If true, the cuts could affect all agencies under HHS, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

At present, HHS employs roughly 80,000 people across different agencies. It’s unclear how the potential elimination of jobs would impact healthcare services, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

The timing of the Wall Street Journal’s story follows news from earlier this week that billionaire Elon Musk’s special quasi-government taskforce, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is currently sifting through CMS payment records in search of “big money fraud.”

For more, read the full coverage from the Wall Street Journal at the link below.