Executive Order Creates Women’s Health Task Force, Rescinds Prior Initiatives

On October 19, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) titled “Advancing Women’s Health to Improve Outcomes in All Phases of Life,” establishing new federal infrastructure dedicated to improving women’s health research, clinical translation, and coordinated policy leadership. The EO creates a White House Women’s Health Task Force and directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a new Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  

What the EO Does 

The EO states that the Women’s Health Division at NIH shall, among other things: 

• Increase the scientific review of women’s health conditions in all phases of life that remain understudied or insufficiently understood. 
• Promote innovation and advanced research technologies to accelerate time to diagnosis and improve access to high-quality prevention, treatment, specialized health care services, personalized medicine, and coordinated care delivery. 
• Support data-collection and research methodologies that improve understanding of sex-specific health outcomes, increase inclusion of women and girls in clinical trials, and develop accountability for grant recipients to enhance adherence to the NIH policy requiring research to account for sex as a biological variable. 
• Facilitate translation of scientific discoveries into clinical practice and public health implementation across federal, state, and local jurisdictions. 

According to the EO, the White House Task Force will work to strengthen federal research into new treatments and cures, ensure that research findings are put into practice by doctors and other health care providers, and prioritize funding for prevention and early detection of health risks. The task force will also advise pilot programs that break down barriers between different types of care (e.g., primary care, specialty care, and mental health services). It will work with states, tribal groups, local governments, faith-based organizations, private companies, and philanthropic groups to make sure that scientific advances reach patients in real clinical and community settings. 

The EO also identifies numerous areas where more research is needed, including cardiovascular and heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, osteoporosis, mental health, chronic pain, endometriosis, fibroids, polyendocrine metabolic ovary syndrome, infertility, maternal health, menopause, neurological disorders, and aging. 

A Reorientation of Federal Women’s Health Priorities 

The EO revokes two prior directives on women's health: Executive Order 14120 (March 18, 2024), “Advancing Women's Health Research and Innovation;” and the presidential memorandum of November 13, 2023, “White House Initiative on Women's Health Research.” According to the White House, the new EO “rescinds the initiatives of the prior administration in order to broaden beyond research and prioritize translating research into improved clinical care that benefits women and girls.”  

The new EO elevates clinical care delivery as a co-equal priority alongside research, with an emphasis on public-private partnerships, pilot programs, and community-level implementation. The prior administration’s framework also included clinical translation among its stated goals — the distinction is therefore one of emphasis and institutional design as much as direction. 

Health care organizations should pay close attention to funding structure of the initiatives outlined in the EO. NIH typically spends about $5 billion annually on women’s health — roughly 10% of its annual budget. The Biden-era framework was accompanied by specific appropriations commitments above that baseline, including a $12 billion congressional request, a $200 million NIH budget commitment for FY2025, and a $100 million ARPA-H commitment for women’s health research and development. The EO contains no equivalent appropriation on its face, and the White House has not announced a specific dollar figure associated with the initiative. It states that it shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. This means Congress and implementing agency action will ultimately determine the scale of investment. 

The funding picture is informed by actions taken in 2025, including a proposed 26.2% reduction to HHS that was included in President Trump’s FY2026 budget and a temporary move to terminate contracts with the Women’s Health Initiative, a long-running NIH study covering many of the chronic disease conditions the new EO identifies as priorities. HHS subsequently confirmed that NIH had “exceeded its internal targets for contract reductions” and announced it was “working to fully restore funding to these essential research efforts.” 

For health care organizations with active or anticipated women’s health research programs, this underscores the importance of maintaining ongoing engagement with federal agency contacts and relevant congressional offices, both to stay informed of program changes and to ensure that the value of ongoing research is well understood by decision-makers. 

Possible Implications for Health Care Entities  

1. Clinical care standards and clinical education: The EO directs the task force to pursue updated clinical education based on the best available science. Health care providers and health systems should anticipate potential updates to clinical guidelines and evidence-based medicine standards in the areas identified by the EO. They should also closely monitor future HHS and NIH communications. 
2. Pilot programs and care-delivery models: The EO directs the task force to advise agency heads on opportunities to implement pilot programs that improve incentives to integrate prevention, early intervention, and treatment. This could create opportunities for health care entities to participate in new care delivery demonstrations or reimbursement innovation initiatives. Organizations interested in this space should track task force public hearings and CMS Innovation Center activity. 
3. Clinical trials and research compliance: The EO directs the new division to support methodologies that increase inclusion of women and girls in clinical trials. It also tasks the division with developing accountability measures for grant recipients to strengthen adherence to the NIH policy that requires research to account for sex as a biological variable. Academic medical centers, research hospitals, and other NIH-funded institutions should assess whether their research protocols and grant compliance programs align with this policy. 
4. Public-private partnerships: The EO directs the task force to accelerate innovation, strengthen public-private partnerships, and promote investment in women’s health solutions. Health care organizations, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and health plans may find opportunities in federal grant programs, cooperative agreements, or partnership frameworks as the task force’s agenda takes shape. The EO’s explicit inclusion of faith-based organizations, philanthropic groups, and state and local governments suggests a broader set of intended partners than was contemplated under the prior framework. 
5. Funding Uncertainty. The EO does not state that existing grants under the Biden-era initiatives will be terminated. However, health care organizations that received funding under the revoked Biden-era initiatives should assess whether pending or anticipated grants, or grant renewals, may be affected by the change in policy. We suggest stakeholders review existing awards, monitor agency actions, and identify potential opportunities as NIH and HHS implement the EO. Organizations with active or anticipated women’s health research programs should not assume continuity without active verification and should maintain proactive lines of communication with relevant agency program officers and congressional offices. 

What to Expect  

1. NIH grant priorities: Watch for shifts in federal research funding toward the conditions identified in the EO and new requirements around how research studies account for differences between male and female patients. 
2. NIH Women’s Health Division launch: Monitor leadership appointments, initial priority-setting documents, and any budget requests accompanying the Division’s formal establishment. 
3. Task force public activity: This may include hearings, roundtables, and any guidance documents signaling specific regulatory or reimbursement reforms. 
4. CMS pilot program announcements: This may include care delivery demonstrations and reimbursement innovation initiatives stemming from the task force’s directive integrating prevention and treatment. 
5. Congressional appropriations: Since funding has not yet been determined, look for announcements on whether the EO will be backed by new federal dollars or implemented within existing budget constraints. 

The EO represents a shift in how the federal government frames women's health, moving from a research-first model to one that treats clinical care delivery as an equal priority. However, the absence of dedicated funding means that ambition and impact may diverge significantly. The revocation of prior Biden-era initiatives, which carried specific appropriations commitments, combined with the broader HHS budget pressures, creates uncertainty about whether the new institutional structures will be resourced to deliver on their mandate.