FDA guts division that trains staff and health-care professionals on key practices like opioid safety, avoiding drug errors

The Food and Drug Administration has gutted a division responsible for training agency staff and outside health-care professionals on an array of key public health, regulation and safety practices and supporting professional development for employees, CNBC has learned. 

In an email viewed by CNBC, workers were notified that the Division of Learning and Organizational Development, or DLOD, faces cuts under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s broader plan to restructure the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. All of the more than 30 employees in the division were laid off. While it was a small team within the FDA, it was a key resource for the entire agency and external doctors, nurses, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, among other professionals.

Kennedy is slashing 10,000 jobs at HHS, including roughly 3,500 full-time employees at the FDA, to focus on what HHS called "streamlining operations and centralizing administrative functions." The FDA is responsible for regulating and overseeing the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, medical devices, food and cosmetics, among other items.

HHS has said the cuts at the agency will not affect inspectors or reviewers of drugs, medical devices or food, and will primarily target workers deemed as having unnecessary responsibilities. But reports suggest that the Trump administration is eliminating some employees who played a key role in protecting public health, such as top veterinarians overseeing the FDA's bird flu response amid outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows, along with several recent human cases.

Kennedy last week said some personnel and programs at federal agencies affected by his sweeping reductions will be reinstated, but it is unclear if that includes DLOD employees. The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The division is canceling all planned activities, including scientific and regulatory education along with leadership and organizational development, according to the email. It is also scrapping the processing and approval of any so-called continuing education activities across the FDA, which refers to formal educational programs that help agency staff and external health-care professionals stay up to date on medical science, public health and regulatory practices, the email said.

For example, some programs trained agency staff and external doctors, nurses and pharmacists about opioid safety, avoiding medication errors, infectious and rare diseases, clinical trials and using artificial intelligence to support regulatory decisions, according to two FDA employees, who requested anonymity to speak freely. The division also held monthly presentations to highlight research across the agency – such as a recent study on tobacco use –  and its impact on protecting public health, the employees said. 

There are now no staff available to award credits, or points for completing approved educational activities, such as lectures, online modules or workshops, according to one FDA employee. Depending on the state, health-care professionals must earn a certain number of credits each year or licensing cycle to maintain their credentials and stay up to date with medical knowledge and standards.

The FDA is also losing a central resource that employees can go to for professional development and training. 

"With the removal of DLOD, there's a great deal of uncertainty about how learners and professionals will adapt," one of the FDA employees said. "They are now responsible for independently finding and selecting their own courses, which may result in confusion or inefficiency."

One office in the division was fully funded by so-called user fees, not taxpayer dollars, according to the two FDA employees. The FDA collects those fees from companies that produce certain products like drugs and medical devices and from other entities, such as certain certification bodies. 

The Trump administration has cited federal cost savings as part of its justification for laying off employees at HHS, raising questions about why it targeted that unit.

The office – known as the Continuing Education and Consultation Accreditation Team – was the only group within the FDA authorized to issue credits to both FDA employees and outside health-care professionals, the two employees said. The office included six workers, all of whom will lose their jobs.

The office was also the only "jointly accredited" unit within the FDA, which means it was qualified to provide training across different health-care disciplines, the employee said.