IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHTS
from SAMHSA’s Proposed Guidelines for Lab-based
ORAL FLUID E
BY BILL CURRENT, CURRENT CONSULTING GROUP
On May 12, 2015, the Federal Register published proposed guidelines from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the inclusion of oral fluid specimens in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. The proposed guidelines were subject to a 60-day public comment period and the Drug Testing Advisory Board (DTAB) is in the process of reviewing those comments.
38 datia focus
ssentially, the proposed guidelines will, once finalized, “establish standards and technical
requirements for oral fluid collection devices, initial oral fluid drug test analytes and methods, confirmatory oral fluid drug test analytes and methods, processes for review by a Medical Review Officer (MRO), and requirements for federal agency actions.” While the guidelines as proposed would
only apply to federal workplaces, they do reference other federally mandated drug testing programs. Quoting from the proposed guidelines: “some agencies such as the Department of Transportation (DOT), are required to follow these guidelines in developing drug testing programs for their regulated industries, whereas others, such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), use the guidelines as part of the regulatory basis for their federal drug testing programs.”
In other words, at some future date if and
when the DOT decides to permit lab-based oral fluid testing, SAMHSA’s Oral Fluid Mandatory Guidelines (OFMG) will serve as the procedural requirements for DOT- covered employers.
How Many Oral Fluid Drug Tests Will There Be? In the proposed guidelines, SAMHSA projects how many federal drug tests will likely convert from urine to lab-based oral fluid tests. Using data obtained from the Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs and HHS certified laboratories, SAMHSA projects that about 10,500 or 7 percent of the current 150,000 federal workplace drug tests will be oral fluid specimens with the remainder continuing to be urine tests. Te proposed guidelines also include
projections for DOT and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) conversions to oral fluid testing. Te
Fall 2015
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