[ Home | Contents | Search Q&A | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From: g woodall
Password: orange
Date: 27 Feb 2008
Time: 19:35:06 -0800
Remote Name: 68.52.204.228
Your position and responsibilities need to be clear, as companies, once challenged, may well claim they were relying solely on your expertise and warranty. I likewise do not do business with companies who decline confirmation testing for on-site immunoassay testing we perform. We offer quick all-negative reports, but any other result is automatically sent for GC/MS and no positive report is made until confirmed. Any requested verbal report is simply "result [drug not identified] pending confirmation by GC/MS" as enzyme testing can have false reactions to some common medications.
If you choose to do non-confirmed drug test business, at least (as you noted) don't report positive results. Perhaps instead report "xxx test incomplete" and prominently include a disclaimer statement, e.g., "testing methodology requested subject to false reactions to common medications."
A similar problem is companies who do not wish MRO services for the results. (But wait! You, the MRO, are still listed in section B of the CCF as the MRO, and the company may say it assumed you were responsible!!) A prominent statement on the report that "No medical review was made for alternative explanations for a positive result in accordance with your request" helps if you are involved this type business. Some labs now include a similar disclaimer in their reports. We have also chosen to decline accounts without MRO services where we report the result, but we still collect specimens for "outside" accounts where the lab reports the result directly to the employer. (Our non-MRO clients tend to free-consult the MRO about positives, anyway.) The explanation to the clients is "we strive to only provide results that you [and we] can defend in court" - and therefore probably won't need to.
I am not certain, but don't believe SAMHSA recognizes POCTs at all.