Topics on this page: Summary of Activities that Continue | Summary of Activities that will Not Continue | Summary of Contingency Staffing Plan
Summary of Activities that Continue
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) activities will continue to be largely centered on the ongoing operations at its biomedical research hospital, the NIH Clinical Center, to maintain the safety and continued care of its patients. These patients are part of research focused on fostering fundamental creative discoveries, innovative research strategies, and improving human health. NIH will provide basic care services to protect the health of NIH animals and retain staff to safeguard ongoing experiments or operations, and facilities and infrastructure.
Summary of Activities that will Not Continue
- All NIH grant peer review meetings, advisory council meetings, issuance of new awards, and program/grants management activities.
- The admission of new patients at the NIH Clinical Center (unless deemed medically necessary by the NIH Clinical Center Director).
- Initiation of new protocols at the NIH Clinical Center.
- Basic research conducted by NIH scientists.
- Translational research conducted by NIH scientists that develops clinical applications of scientific knowledge.
- Training of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at NIH facilities.
- Scientific meetings at NIH facilities.
- Travel of NIH scientists to scientific meetings.
- Some NIH veterinary services.
- NIH scientific equipment services.
- Almost all NIH administrative functions, including the onboard of non-excepted staff.
- Most NIH mail, cafeterias, and visitor services.
Summary of Contingency Staffing Plan
In the event of a lapse in appropriations, 5,283 (31.53%) of NIH staff will be retained. This total includes staff who are excepted given their activities are deemed necessary by implication or for the safety of human life or protection of property.
Exempt Staff:
There are no NIH staff classified under the Exempt category.
Excepted Staff:
A total of 5,283 (31.53%) NIH staff are considered excepted and can legally continue their activities in the absence of appropriations. This level represents a ~7.36% increase compared to the previous plan shared. The excepted personnel reflects staffing levels required to sustain essential NIH operations. The most significant increases are concentrated among employees responsible for protecting ongoing medical and scientific experiments and those providing direct patient care through NIH clinics and hospitals, where continuity of operations is critical to safeguarding human subjects and maintaining essential medical services.
Excepted NIH staff will continue to perform vital tasks related to imminent threats to human health or life, specifically by providing patient care. Patients receiving treatment at the NIH Clinical Center are participants in important investigational procedures, and often, no other treatment options are available. Providing care to existing patients (inpatient and outpatient) will require the hospital to operate initially at approximately 90% of the normal patient load. NIH will continue to provide the right amount and type of staff to ensure the proper care of its patients. The excepted staff in this category comprise the multidisciplinary patient care team needed for safe and effective direct patient care and support.
Excepted staff will also continue activities ensuring the protection of government research property, animals, and inanimate property. Examples include the care and feeding of any animals associated with research activities and maintaining research property used for ongoing medical experiments. These staff will also be responsible for maintaining cell lines and other invaluable research materials.
Additionally, staff will be considered excepted and continue to work if their duties are necessary to protect ongoing NIH experiments or operations or if they are needed for the orderly phase down and suspension of non-funded activities. For example, NIH will retain personnel to maintain computerized systems supporting research and clinical patient care. Most of these excepted staff will maintain the hospital data network, clinical research information system, picture archiving and communications systems, radiology information system, and other components directly related to the electronic patient medical record. A smaller group of excepted staff will continue to operate elements of the National Library of Medicine data center that interact with external biomedical databases essential for the provision of non-Federal health care.