Frequently Asked Questions

Employers drug test employees for various reasons such as workplace safety, boost productivity, reduce accidents, prevent turnover, and in some cases to meet government or vendor requirements. Drug abuse among employees negatively affects themselves, coworkers, customers, and the public.

One of the primary reasons employers drug test is because of worker safety. A study conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 77% of drug users were employed full or part time. Drug users are 3.6 times more likely to injure themselves or a coworker in an on-the-job accident.

Prime Drug Testing has a network of collection points throughout the United States. These collection points are usually clinics, doctor offices, or other facilities.  If you want to confirm coverage, use our CHECK CLINIC AVAILABILITY tool to see options in the area you need to test.

If you are testing under the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations, you must choose the DOT Panel.  Otherwise, you should choose a test that aligns with your company policy and utilize that test for all your testing needs.

Prime Drug Testing has worked diligently to make the testing process straightforward and easy to understand. Here are the basic steps at a high level.  Steps 1-5 are specifically related to things you will do. The rest cover the process after the specimen is collected.

Basic Steps:

1. Select Test Panel
2. Enter Donor Demographics
3. Search for and Select Clinic
4. Enter Payment Info
5. Provide Donor with Authorization Form
6. Donor presents at collection site and provides specimen
7. Specimen is shipped to the laboratory
8. Laboratory receives specimen and tests specimen
9. Laboratory reports result to Medical Review Officer (MRO)
10. MRO reviews test and determines the final result
11. You will receive an email letting you know to check Prime Drug Testing for the result.

MRO stands for Medical Review Officer.  MROs are physicians that have received special training in drugs of abuse and are certified by either the MROCC (Medical Review Officer Certification Council) or the AAMRO (American Association of Medical Review Officers).  The MRO interprets the laboratory’s result.  MROs report Negative test results report quickly.  Non-Negative test results, however, go through a much more detailed process which may include a conversation between the donor and the MRO to determine if there are any alternative reasons why the drug screen came back positive. A good example of this are prescriptions.  If a donor claims they have a prescription that caused the positive, the MRO will confirm that the prescription is valid, in the donor’s name, and that the prescription would cause the donor to test positive for the drug the lab reported positive.

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SAMHSA is the acronym for Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration. They are the Federal Government entity that regulates and inspects drug testing laboratories. In order to test specimens for testing related to the Department of Transportation (DOT), laboratories must be SAMHSA approved. Using this standard, ensures each specimen is tested (DOT or Non-DOT) using proper procedures and techniques. These labs also go through periodic inspections by the Federal Government.

Prime Drug Testing is partnered with Clinical Reference Lab, a SAMHSA certified lab. You can access SAMHSA’s list of certified labs here: https://www.samhsa.gov/workplace/drug-testing-resources/certified-lab-list.

Electronic Chain of Custody, sometimes referred to as eCOC or eCCF, is the best method for conducting a drug screen.  Before Electronic Chain of Custody, employers only option was paper chain of custody forms.  These were multi-part carbon forms. The only way to initiate a test was to physically give or mail/ship a form to the donor.  This was expensive, time consuming, and hard to track. Now with Electronic Chain of Custody, employers can register the donor for their test on Prime Drug Testing and email instructions along with an Authorization Form used to get their test completed.

Payments are made by credit card for each drug screen ordered. Prime Drug Testing does not store credit card information within our system.

The short answer is YES. Prime Drug Testing recognizes the importance of data security and uses several strategies to maintain security within the site. These include:

• Strong password requirements for our users.
• Multi-Factor-Authentication for log in. This is where we send you a code to type in so the website to confirm you are who you say you are.
• Periodic password update requirements
• End-to-End encryption process for all data transmissions/exchanges
• Encrypted cloud-based database

Negative test results are typically reported within 12-24 hours once the specimen has been delivered to the laboratory.

Positive test results go through additional testing at the laboratory and a longer MRO review process.  Typically, these results may take an additional 3-4 days before reporting.

The vast majority of drug screens report quickly without delay.  However, there are a number of factors that can affect turnaround time of your drug screen. Since drug screening has a number of steps, we’ll break it down into sections:

Collection Site

The most common delay related to a collection site relates to courier pick up. Laboratories use couriers like FedEx and UPS to pick up specimens and deliver them to the laboratory. Couriers have regularly scheduled pick-ups from the clinics.  If a donor presents at a clinic for testing after that clinic’s courier pick-up, the shipping of the specimen may be delayed.

Weather can play a factor as well when it comes to shipping specimens to the lab. In cases of severe weather (snow, ice, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, flooding, etc) shipping of specimens may be impacted.

Laboratory

The laboratory process for drug testing includes an initial screening of the specimen.  If the initial screen is negative, no further testing is required and the lab can report the result to the MRO. If the test is not negative, it goes on to a confirmation test.  Laboratories tell us confirmatory testing can take up to an additional 72 hours of testing time.

MRO

Negative test results from the MRO report very quickly. However, Non-negative lab results that require the full MRO interaction take longer to complete.  The MRO will make a number of attempts to contact the donor to discuss test results. If the donor does not answer the MRO, it will extend the time to report the result. Also, if there are prescriptions to be verified by the MRO, that takes time.  Generally, MRO reviews for non-negative results can extend the reporting time for 1-2 days.

When laboratories process specimens for drug screening, in addition to the drug screen, they will do a validity test on the specimen also.  This makes sure they are testing a normal, human urine specimen that does not have any interfering substances.  Validity tests will look at pH, Specific Gravity, and Creatinine levels to ensure the specimen is good for testing.

All Prime Drug Testing panels include Validity Testing.

Because alcohol is a legal substance, testing must show that the donor is actually under the influence of alcohol. A urine test is not a good methodology to determine this.  The preferred method will be a breath test using a breathalyzer.  Breath alcohol testing correlates to Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) on a 1:1 level.  The breath test is considered an excellent methodology to make this determination as it is considered the least invasive. Positive alcohol tests are reported by their BAC level.

Our collection site network is able to provide breath alcohol testing. Keep in mind once the Breath Alcohol Technician conducts the testing they will report it immediately.  Nothing goes to the lab, nothing goes to the MRO.  There is no MRO review for breath alcohol tests.

A couple of different areas to look at when this happens.

Financially

Will you lose the money you spent on the drug screen? No.  Prime Drug Testing has designed its payment process so that in the event of an expired test, we will refund your credit card after a period of time (5-10 days after the scheduled test expired).

Operationally

If the donor presents at the collection site for testing and then refuses to take the test, the collection site will report these through the system as a Refusal to Test.  This result status carries the same ramifications as a positive test.

If the test expires and the donor simply did not go the collection site, it should be considered a Refusal to Test.  Keep in mind, there won’t be any record in Prime Drug Testing about this testing status. The scheduled event will show as expired.

All results are made available to our clients on our secure website.  Prime Drug Testing will send you an email notification of when a new result is available.

In addition to final result notifications, Prime Drug Testing can also notify you of specific milestones in the testing process.  Statuses such as:

• Specimen Collected
• Specimen At Lab
• In MRO Review

Prime Drug Testing strives to be very transparent about our testing processes and the costs involved.  The per test fees are posted on our website.  These per test fees cover the collection of the specimen, laboratory testing, MRO review, and use of Prime Drug Testing.

Yes. If you are testing your employees, you should have this addressed in your company policy. Best practice is to have each employee sign off that they have read, understand, and will comply with the policy.  If you don’t have a company policy and need help, Prime Drug Testing recommends consulting with your company attorney to develop your policy.  There may also be online resources for policy development.