The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services appears to have abruptly slashed over $55 million in grants to the Louisiana Department of Health, according to a review of the Department of Government Efficiency website run by Elon Musk.
The figure is five times the amount estimated by Deputy Secretary Dr. Pete Croughan earlier this week. The cuts target mental health and substance use programs, including crisis services, according to Louisiana health officials.
The apparent cuts range from more than $18 million slashed from one grant to $333,011 sliced from another. In total, a WWNO/WRKF review of the DOGE website found $55,844,936 in cuts across 11 federal grants to Louisiana’s health department, though the site has previously posted inaccurate and inflated data.
All of the cuts listed on the DOGE site were dated March 23.
It’s unclear which specific grants are affected by the cuts. Health department officials did not specify that information on Tuesday, and the DOGE site does not provide details on the grants, or even their names. The site does not list cuts by the agency they impact, nor can it be searched by agency. WWNO/WRKF reviewed 146 pages of HHS grant cuts to find out which ones impacted Louisiana’s health department. For some, DOGE listed the recipient as “HEALTH, LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF,” and for others it listed “LA ST DEPT OF HLTH & HOSPITALS, OFFICE OF PUBLIC HEALTH.”
“The department is still reviewing all grants associated with this funding to determine the unused balance that was canceled," LDH spokeswoman Emma Herrock said in a statement to WWNO/WRKF.
Karen Stubbs, an assistant secretary at the health department, told lawmakers on Tuesday that her office received news of the cuts at around 5 p.m. on Monday in “a series of emails that were slightly difficult to interpret.” She said HHS appeared to end six federal grants, three for mental health and three for substance use.
Louisiana health department 'still determining' impacts
Stubbs testified during a Louisiana Senate Finance Committee hearing that was scheduled to go over the health department's overall finances and budget for 2026. She said officials were still trying to figure out how the cuts would impact mental health and substance use services.
“Because this literally happened last night, we are still determining the impacts,” she said.
Stubbs said the six grants her office had identified were scheduled to end in 2025, and two had ended earlier this month. She said officials were trying to figure out other ways to fund the programs.
“We were looking at some of those grants to pay for things like some portions of our crisis services,” Stubbs said. “So we're still trying to sort out if we can shift them to other grants with payments there, or what that impact is.”
During the committee hearing, Deputy Secretary Dr. Pete Croughan estimated that the cuts were around $10 million.
Some lawmakers expressed concern over the potential impact of slashing millions in funding earmarked for mental health and substance use.
“I'm really disturbed to hear about this $10 million potentially, and where it's going to be cut, and what that is going to look like,” said Sen. Regina Burrow (D-Baton Rouge).
