Breaking News Re: Direct Observation Collections and Changes to the Federal Rule

Dear Valued Client,

We were notified late Friday the requirement that all return-to-duty and follow-up tests be conducted as direct observed collections will be delayed until November 1, 2008. This will allow Department of Transportation to have a comment period to further evaluate this change.

Here are the Federal Rule changes that did take effect Monday, August 25, 2008:

1. It is now mandatory for laboratories to test all DOT specimens for specimen validity (i.e., adulterants and urine substitutes) and for laboratories to follow all Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) protocols for doing so.

2. During observed collections, items such as prosthetic devices designed to carry clean urine will be checked for by observers with both male and female donors. The observer will have the employee raise and lower clothing, and then put it back into place for the observed collection.

3. In an effort to thwart those who would manufacturer products designed to adulterate specimens, the Final Rule will no longer have easy-to-follow tables and charts outlining the adulterants for which laboratories are testing and the scientific cutoff levels at which laboratories are testing them.

4. Definitions in the Final Rule have been changed to harmonize with the HHS.

5. The following occurrences are now considered a refusal to test:

a. The donor is found to possess or wear a prosthetic or other device that
could be used to interfere with the collection process,
b. The donor refused to follow collector instructions during an observed
collection process to raise and lower clothing as specified in regulations, and
c. The donor admits to the collector or MRO that he/she adulterated or
substituted the specimen.

6. The Final Rule will close the potentially endless loop on invalid specimen results; and employees requiring negative results [for example, pre-employment tests], when they have medical reasons for providing invalid results, will be able to obtain them through medical evaluations to rule out signs and symptoms of drug use.

7. The Final Rule will streamline and simplify the potential myriad of complicated laboratory-confirmed and MRO-verified drug test results.

8. The Final Rule requires drug-testing laboratories to report to DOT semi-annual statistical summaries on all of their DOT testing.

Updated Collection Site Listings

Last week we sent out updated Quest and PacLab collection site listings with our RSS Monthly Employer Reports. These lists reflect new hours and/or new pricing for the collection sites. The most current collection site information is always posted at the FFW Members Section of our MBG Website (http://www.mbgmanagement.com/).

Please feel free to contact our office if you have any questions or if you need us to set up a new collection site for you.

Have a GREAT day!