Drug Test Results Being Delayed due to Collector Error

Written By Lucas Kibby

In the first part of our three part series about delays in receiving a donor’s testing result (collection site, labs, MROs), we are going to discuss delays at a collection site.

When an employer sends an employee or potential hire to a collection site for a drug test, the company hopes to receive the drug test results quickly in order to make sure the employee didn’t receive a positive drug test or to get a new-hire through the hiring process as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately there can be delays in the testing process from the collection site where the drug test specimen was received or at the lab where the specimen is tested.

Common Drug Test Result Delays at Collection Sites

There are many simple errors that collection sites can make that may delays of your donor’s drug test result. Many times remote collection sites do not have a courier to come and pick up the specimens every day to send to the lab, therefore these specimens wait two or three days before ever being shipped to the lab for testing. For observed collections, there may not be the correct gendered staff employed to observe, causing a delay in finding another site that does have the right staff.

Often times, there are mistake during the specimen collection procedures. This can include the collector forgetting to have the donor sign the sample/s or not signing the form themselves, wrong boxes being filled out on the forms, or a collector using the wrong or outdated chain of custody form. Many times, after the specimen and paperwork are sent to the lab, the lab sends back a memorandum to fix these mistakes before testing can ever begin on the specimen.

The Newest Challenge for Collection Sites Today

The newest challenge for collection sites across the country is errors in printing eCCFs (electronic chain-of-custody forms), such as running out of ink or paper jams, etc. When this happens, a collector has to reprint the chain, which will say “duplicate” on the form. As required by the federal government, in order to authenticate this “duplicate”, the collector needs to provide a wet signature on the lab copy in order for the lab to test the specimen.

Collectors at many collection sites may not know this requirement and send the chain without a wet signature. If the duplicate is sent to the lab with no wet signature by the collector, the lab will send back a “memorandum record” that requests the chain be reprinted again, to have a wet signature on it, and then sent back to the lab before testing of the specimen can begin.

Due to the requirement that the signature on the chain-of-custody form must be wet, the CCF must be mailed or sent by courier to the lab. This can cause a delay in the testing process, and much frustration, because of the collector’s error at the collection site.

There are ways we at CleanFleet try to prevent delays. We make sure accurate forms are sent from our collection sites, we verify that the TPA/consortium is working as accurately as possible when the collection site receives a memorandum from the lab if a mistake is made, and we work with that collection site to get the memorandum back to lab accurately as quickly as possible.

Learn more about additional delays (that are unpreventable) by understanding the lab’s testing process after they receive the specimen.

Ensuring mistakes do not happen, and if they do, resolving them as quickly as possible

If CleanFleet is your Consortium who oversees your drug testing program, you can expect a best-in-class service to mitigate these mistakes. CleanFleet helps you with the Random Selection Process, the Testing Process of collection, lab, and MRO, and we offer Quality Control, documentation retention, prepare audit packets, MIS reporting, and more.

The way we, as a Consortium, help you in the Testing Process includes:

• Calling collection site to make sure they have the right gender staff for an observed collection or that they have a Breath Alcohol Test equipment on site.
• We then authorize the drug test
• We make sure forms are filled out correctly
• We send the info over to the employer DER and the collection site
• As soon as we know the donor went in, we get paperwork and make sure specimen is sent to the lab, that the lab received the specimen, and that the lab has all the required documents needed
• If there is a memorandum or correction needed, we make sure the collection site fixes any issues
• We call the lab daily until the test gets done
• If there is a positive test reported, we make sure the MRO process is handled as efficiently as possible

Are you not a CleanFleet Consortium member? Enroll today or learn more by calling us at 503-479-6082.