RI Among 23 States Suing HHS Over Termination Of $12 Billion In Public Health Funding

RHODE ISLAND — Rhode Island was among a group of 23 states and Washington, D.C., that filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over the termination of grants supporting public health services.

The coalition, which includes Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha and his peers in other states, argued the department’s rollback of $12 billion in public health funding was illegal and harmful.

"Investments in public health make our communities healthier and safer, and they save lives," Rhode Island Department of Health Director Jerry Larkin said. "These grants support critical work to prevent deadly infectious diseases, ensure people are vaccinated, prevent outbreaks of foodborne illness, modernize many of our core laboratory functions, Medical Examiner’s Office, and public health data systems, amongst other work. These are public health services that Rhode Islanders paid for and deserve."

With this lawsuit, Neronha and the coalition are seeking a temporary restraining order to halt the terminations of these grants. Last week, RIDOH received notice of the termination of four grants from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that represented roughly $31 million in public health funding.

These grants originally came to RIDOH during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were renewed over time. Their scopes were expanded by the CDC to prepare Rhode Island for future pandemics and strengthen the public health system in. A RIDOH spokesperson said these grants support:

• Surveillance, outbreak response, engagement in care, and other infectious disease prevention and control activities. This decreases rates of infectious diseases in Rhode Island, including respiratory pathogens, foodborne illnesses, HIV, hepatitis C, congenital syphilis, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and tuberculosis. It also helps prevent disease clusters and outbreaks.

• Occupational health, biosafety risk activities, biosafety training, and other functions. This funding also supports some core laboratory functions and administration, as well as the replacement of obsolete laboratory equipment and systems (for example, a modernized laboratory information management system)

• The public health infrastructure that surrounds vaccination in Rhode Island. This includes vaccination clinics, partnerships with community organizations to promote vaccination and increase vaccine confidence, proper vaccine storage, and upgrading immunization registry.

According to RIDOH officials, this work and these systems help Rhode Island maintain some of the highest vaccination rates in the country across all vaccine-preventable diseases (e.g., measles and other childhood vaccines, and seasonal vaccinations).

Other states that joined the lawsuit include: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, as well as the Governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Have a news tip? Email jimmy.bentley@patch.com.