by Aaron Atkinson on September 3, 2010
On October 1, 2010, the Department of Health & Human Services’ (HHS) new Mandatory Guidelines, and corresponding Department of Transportation (DOT) 49 CFR Part 40 Rules will take affect. With this change, MDMA (Ecstasy) and 6-Acetylmorphine (Heroin-specific metabolite) will become required screens in regulated panels. Additionally, the screening and confirmation cutoffs for cocaine and amphetamines will be lowered.
As a direct result of these requirements, the cost of testing, equipment and other critical components necessary to process and perform this testing are increasing. While our ability to leverage economies-of-scale in purchasing will help mitigate the impact of some of these increased costs, pricing for panels which incorporate these changes will increase slightly.
When the HHS Mandatory Guidelines take affect, we will implement the following panel changes:
- HHS/DOT covered panels - test panels will automatically transfer to the new HHS/DOT panel on October 1, 2010 and pricing increases will take affect on November 1, 2010.
- Non-Federally mandated, 5-panel drug testing - test panels will NOT change unless you request it. If you wish to incorporate these changes into your current panels, please contact the National Customer Support Center at (800) 877-7484.
by Aaron Atkinson on August 13, 2010
The following information was published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
OVERVIEW
The Department of Transportation (the Department or DOT) is amending certain provisions of its drug testing procedures dealing with laboratory testing of urine specimens. Some of the changes will also affect the training of and procedures used by Medical Review Officers. The changes are intended to create consistency with many, but not all, of the new requirements established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
DATES
This rule is effective October 1, 2010.
SUMMARY
The U.S. Department of Transportation Publishes a Final Rule – Effective October 1, 2010
The following is a summary of the Final Rule:
1 ) The Department is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employees Testing Act (Omnibus Act) to follow the HHS requirements for the testing procedures/protocols and drugs for which we test.
2) Primary laboratory requirements in this final rule include:
- Testing for MDMA (aka. Ecstasy)
- Lowering cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines
- Conducting mandatory initial testing for heroin
3 ) The Department brought several testing definitions in-line with those of HHS.
4 ) Each Medical Review Officer (MRO) will need to be re-qualified – including passing an examination given by an MRO training organization – every five years. The Final Rule eliminated the requirement for each MRO to take 12 hours of continuing education every three years.
5 ) An MRO will not need to be trained by an HHS-approved MRO training organization as long as the MRO meets DOT’s qualification and requalification training requirements.
6 ) MRO recordkeeping requirements did not change from the five years for non-negatives and one year for negatives.
7 ) The Final Rule does not allow the use of HHS-Certified Instrumented Initial Testing Facilities (IITFs) to conduct initial drug testing because the Omnibus Act requires laboratories to be able to perform both initial and confirmation testing but IITFs cannot conduct confirmation testing.
8 ) The Final Rule is effective October 1, 2010.
You can review the final rule by clicking here.