The Health & Wellness division of Quest is the nation’s leading provider of biometric wellness screenings, flu shots, and related preventive services for employers. Each year, more than 3.5 million American adults undergo wellness screenings, and over 500,000 flu shots are administered during these screenings. With unrivaled access and flexible collection methods, including access to 2,200 Patient Service Centers nationwide, Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness helps reduce barriers to participation and enhance employee-sponsored, wellness screening program flexibility in order to lead employees to the right care at the right time.

By offering compelling screening insights in easy-to-understand personalized reporting, Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness helps employees and their partners identify and understand disease risks. Within that reporting, individualized health-improvement solutions are also recommended, enabling participants to make healthier choices ­– choices that result in reduced healthcare costs and lives saved. In fact, wellness screening participants have an average 2-year healthcare-related savings of $884 per person¹.

Population health insights, garnered from screening data, also provide a foundation for employers to help guide planning and decisions about benefit design and wellness initiatives. That’s why Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness offers population-level reporting with data-driven insights to every client at the end of each biometric screening program. This aggregate data provides rich insights about an organization’s health status, while maintaining the confidentiality of personal employee information.

It is essential that employees understand their health risks and how to maintain or improve their health, especially during open enrollment season. Giving employees and their spouses/domestic partners the chance to know their numbers gives them the opportunity to take charge of their health, and promotes a culture of well-being in the workplace.

To learn more about the value of biometric screenings, along with engagement and health improvement solutions from Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness, visit QuestForHealth.com.

¹Diagnostics Blueprint for Wellness – Domino’s Case Study, 2012.

Special thanks to guest contributor Katie Birkenfeld, Marketing Specialist, Quest Diagnostics Health & Wellness

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It’s 6:00 a.m. and the sound of your alarm fills the calm morning air. You’re certain that wonderful wake up sound is a bit early and hit snooze to catch a bit more rest. You finally wake up and when you do, you’re immediately hopeful, because today could mark the beginning of a new chapter. As you sit down next to your closest friend—coffee—you take a moment to reflect on your journey and replay the steps you’ve taken to change one of the most important aspects of your life—where you work.

During the past month, you’ve written down potential interview questions, calmed your nerves during face-to-face meetings, and rehearsed the perfect tone when you assert yourself as the best-suited candidate for the job. Prospective employers met you, listened, and got to know you better, and, at last, one manager recognized that your talent would be a great fit for the team and made you a conditional job offer. Before walking proudly into your new job, there is one last step—you must complete and pass a drug test.

As the most common reason for testing, a pre-employment drug test, helps employers proactively protect themselves from the negative impacts of hiring a drug user. The process kicks off when an employer gives the candidate instructions to provide a urine, oral fluid or hair drug test specimen. The test is typically conducted at an off-site location like a Quest Diagnostics Patient Service Center by a professional test administrator. It’s significant to note that the drug testing process is standardized across our network, meaning the same strict regimen occurs no matter which Quest site you visit. Our staff is trained to be welcoming, respectful, and to consistently follow strict guidelines.

Your part in the process is simple, yet equally important, to ensuring a successful drug test collection. With the goal of making sure that you, as well as others in the waiting area, have a safe and pleasant experience, we have compiled 10 helpful tips:

For information about your upcoming drug test from Quest, visit our website or contact us online.

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Many veterans struggle to cope physically and psychologically from trauma sustained during their military service. The psychological effects experienced by veterans are commonly referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD). According to the American Psychiatric Association, PTSD causes clinically significant distress or impairment in the individual’s social interactions, capacity to work, or other important areas of functioning. PTSD is included in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 as a “Trauma-and Stress-or-Related Disorder,” and a diagnosis is not conclusive unless there has been specific surrounding exposure to traumatic events, where the individual:

• Directly experiences the traumatic event
• Witnesses the traumatic event in person
• Learns that the traumatic event occurred to a close family member or close friend (with the actual or threatened death being either violent or accidental)
• Experiences first-hand repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event (not through media, pictures, television, or movies unless work-related)

As detrimental as PTSD can be, many service members are not regularly seeking the necessary care when they have mental health problems, according to research by RAND Corporation. Without appropriate treatment, quality of life can be severely affected, often times leading to self-medication. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs reports that many former service members try to cope with their PTSD symptoms by drinking heavily, using drugs, or smoking. Research also shows that “if someone does not have a problem with alcohol before a traumatic event, PTSD increases the risk that he or she will develop a drinking or drug problem.”

As a result, PTSD and substance abuse in unison can create a full-blown substance use disorder, hindering an individual from fully participating in everyday life and, in some cases, becoming severely debilitated. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs about substance use disorders in veterans who also suffer from PTSD are eye-opening, for example:

• More than 2 of 10 veterans with PTSD also have a substance use disorder
• War veterans with PTSD and alcohol problems tend to binge drink. Binges may be in response to bad memories of combat trauma
• Almost 1 out of every 3 veterans seeking treatment for substance use disorders also has PTSD
• About 1 in 10 returning soldiers from wars in iraq and Afghanistan seen in the VA have a problem with alcohol or other drugs

Annually, we observe Veteran’s Day on November 11 to celebrate the people who have bravely served in the U.S. Armed Forces. Along with our praise and love for veterans on social media and on the news, we can help to increase awareness about the difficulties veterans face when reentering society after their tours of service has ended. Although statistics surrounding both PTSD and substance use disorders are disconcerting to say the least, they are also part of a larger conversation that needs to happen more often.

If you are a veteran and think you may have an issue with PTSD and a substance use disorder, talk to a health professional and discuss treatment options. Additionally, every VA center staffs specialists who are trained in treating both conditions:

• Find a VA PTSD program
• Find a VA substance use disorder program

For more information about drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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Hair drug testing can help employers detect habitual use by job applicants and employees. Its primary benefit when compared to other types of drug testing is its long detection window. Additionally, the process requires a small specimen of hair cut under direct supervision, making it difficult to tamper or cheat.  When compared with urine testing, hair testing tends to provide a greater number of positives due to its 90 day-detection window, making it an excellent option for pre-employment and random drug testing programs.

To reap the benefits of hair drug testing, as with all other forms of drug testing, one crucial step must be well executed—the collection of the specimen. We hold our collection services team to the highest standards of quality and professionalism and offer comprehensive training to perform a proper collection. That said, hair collections can be complex and challenging. Individuals are naturally apprehensive about having their hair cut. However, our professional collectors are experienced and proficient in cutting only a small, required amount of hair—just enough required for—laboratory testing.

We’ve created a hair collection guide to share as a reference tool for everyone involved in your workplace drug testing program, including your human resources team, field recruiters, executive leadership, and anyone who wants to learn more about the steps in a hair drug collection testing process.

Our guide emphasizes:

• Collector preparation prior to obtaining the hair specimen
• Collection of the hair specimen—typically cut from the crown and the back of the head in a way it will not be noticeable
• Utilizing the hair testing kit to properly wrap the hair specimen for transport to the lab
• Completion of the chain-of-custody process at the collection site
• Examples of incorrect hair drug test collections to illustrate what not to do

Download our Hair Testing Specimen Procedures and Information guide.

For more information about hair drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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Q: Is it possible for a donor to cheat an oral fluid drug test?

Over time, we have heard about numerous attempts by individuals trying to cheat an oral fluid drug test. Examples include excessively rinsing with antiseptic mouthwash, chewing ice, eating Altoids® mints, drinking excessive amounts of water, using products that claim to clean or “neutralize saliva,” and aggressively brushing their teeth, tongue, and cheeks. In one strange and extreme case, a man washed his mouth using fish aquarium cleaner in an unsuccessful effort to beat his drug test. However, to date, we have not found any adulterants that can successfully mask drugs in an oral fluid test, nor are we aware of any devices used to cheat an oral fluid test.

Because every oral fluid drug test collection is directly observed, the risk of an individual cheating or tampering with a test is minimized. A donor’s mouth must be empty – meaning no food, gum, liquids, or tobacco – for at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the drug test. Also, trained collectors monitor every step in the process to prevent someone from trying to introduce anything onto the cotton pad or into the drug test vial. If a donor ignores instructions or misplaces the test wand in his or her mouth, the collector can guide them to make adjustments in order to complete a proper collection.

Additionally, our laboratory performs specimen validity testing, a test for albumin, on every oral fluid drug test specimen. Albumin is a naturally-occurring, endogenous protein in all human oral fluid (saliva). This test helps to ensure that the drug test specimen is actually saliva and that there is a sufficient amount of fluid for the laboratory to render an accurate, reliable drug test result.

Oral fluid drug testing using Oral-Eze is excellent at detecting recent drug use, especially marijuana. Although oral fluid has a slightly shorter window of detection than urine testing, it demonstrates higher positivity rates for almost all drugs and more than twice the positivity rates for marijuana.

Read our FAQs for more frequently asked questions about oral fluid testing.

For more information about drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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Brazil is known for spectacular beaches, the Amazon rainforest, and over the past decade, the “Cracklands,” a notorious part of Rio de Janeiro at the heart of Brazil’s growing crack-cocaine epidemic. On the other side of the equator, there is Canada, often referred to as “the friendly neighbor to the north.” Much like the U.S., Canada has struggled with a significant increase in opioid-related deaths during the past two decades. According to research from the Ontario Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, more than 700 people died of opioid-related causes in 2015. If you employ people in these countries, drug use trends are critical for companies striving to maintain a drug-free workforce.

The International Forum for Drug and Alcohol Testing conference (IFDAT) brings thought leaders together to share best practices and engage in dialogue about how to keep global workplaces safe, productive, and drug-free. Insights about other countries’ experiences with drugs and alcohol help to develop a deeper understanding of cultures, foreign laws, and societal attitudes towards substance abuse, and subsequently, drug testing.

At the last IFDAT conference, which took place in Florida in October, sessions included aviation regulations, drug panel configurations throughout the world, international Medical Review Officer services, alcohol biomarker testing (including PEth), road safety, and dealing with test results across borders. Yet, during the conference, a universal theme emerged: drug use, drug abuse, and fatal overdoses do not singularly affect one subset of a population, one tier of income, or only “the western world.” The latest findings from the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report portray a vivid picture of drug and alcohol use across the globe:

• 28 million cumulative years of life are lost as a result of drug use
• An estimated 183 million past-year users of cannabis, or marijuana, in 2015
• Approximately 1.6 million people who inject drugs have HIV and 6.1 million have Hepatitis C
• Cultivation of the coca bush, the primary resource used in cocaine production, increased by 30% from 2013 to 2015, following a long decline
• Drug trafficking using the “Darknet” has increased 50% each year since 2013

Additionally, Dr. Anthony Wong, Medical and Scientific Director of MAXILABOR Diagnostics, based out of Brazil, spoke about the benefits of implementing a rehabilitation program alongside voluntary employee drug testing. Dr. Wong looks at drug use and abuse as treatable conditions, and with the help of the Brazilian government has established the “CUIDE” program, a 5-step protocol that guides company policy towards treatment and rehab as part of a new kind of workplace drug testing program.

Another conclusion is that drug testing abroad is not easy. However complex, the benefits of drug-free workplace programs is supported by data and research. At Quest, we work to simplify drug testing abroad, from the collection of the specimen, to the shipping of the specimen from remote corners of the earth in an effort to streamline the entire process. Our centralized team of subject matter experts helps our clients to navigate logistics and obstacles overseas.

To learn more about international drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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Studies by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) suggest that substance abuse – which includes drugs and alcohol – costs the U.S. an estimated $276 billion a year, with much of the cost resulting from lost work productivity and increased healthcare spending. Compared to the risks that hiring a drug user can introduce to your workplace, the financial cost of a drug test is rather minimal.

If your company’s goal is to create a workplace where productivity is not hampered by the potential pitfalls and distractions of accidents, absenteeism, and subpar performance borne of employee drug use, then a comprehensive drug and alcohol testing program is an excellent option. With the right plan in place, your company can reliably screen job applicants and employees as you build and maintain a drug-free workplace.

When choosing a laboratory, consider the following criteria:

• Reputation for quality and accuracy
• Drug testing expertise and resources available to answer your technical, legal, and logistical questions
• Range of available drug testing specimen types and solutions
• Network of SAMHSA-certified laboratories
• Confirmation testing when initial drug testing renders a non-negative result
• Specimen validity testing and adulterant identification
• Fast turnaround times for results
• Multiple reporting options for confidential results
• Storage of non-negative drug test specimens in the event of a challenge requiring a specimen re-test
• Ability to interface with a large number of Medical Review Officers
• Collection sites within a convenient radius of your company location and employees
• Online appointment scheduling
• Options for 24/7 emergency collections and on-site drug test collections
• Random drug testing services
• Electronic Custody and Control Form (eCCF) options
• Customer support available
• Competitive pricing

Choosing the best drug testing solution for your company is an important decision, and a number of criteria including your goals, geography, industry, and the jobs being performed by your employees should factor into your selection. Our Drug Testing Needs Assessment consists of 10 simple questions designed to help you sort through your options.

Download our Guide to Establishing a Workplace Drug Testing Program.

To learn more about drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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One subset of the population is particularly at risk; Baby Boomers. This generation—born between 1945 and 1965—is 5 times more likely to have hepatitis C than other adults. To put it in perspective, of all people diagnosed with the disease, approximately 3 in 4 are boomers. The reason for their higher susceptibility is not entirely known. One theory suggests baby boomers had greater exposure to contaminated blood and blood products before widespread screenings were the norm in the medical industry.

Health officials estimate that one-time testing of all Baby Boomers could prevent more than 120,000 hepatitis C virus-related deaths. Timely diagnosis, therefore, is critical to beginning treatment early.  Once diagnosed, patients have various options for treatment based on the stage of the disease as well as therapies that can help limit further disease.

Guidelines recommend screening for HCV for anyone who:

• Was born between 1945 and 1965
• Was or is currently an injection drug user
• Received transfusions or organ transplants prior to July 1992
• Has additional risk factors or medical conditions

In the end, there is hope and reason to believe that taking proactive action may have long-term positive consequences on the future of the disease, especially because, if it is caught in time, Hep C is preventable. Dr Bruce Bacon, Professor of Internal Medicine, Saint Louis University of School and Medicine, is optimistic about the future of hepatitis C virus management saying, “If we find the patients and treat them appropriately, we could essentially eradicate hepatitis C.”

For patient and physician resources about hepatitis C, visit our website.

To set up a nationwide hepatitis C screening program, contact our dedicated team.

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Q: Can a hair drug test be performed on someone with little or no hair?

We get many questions from both individuals scheduled for a drug screen and employers in anticipation of a hair drug test. They wonder how much hair is needed, what part of the head is the hair is cut from, whether color, bleach, shampoos, or salon treatments may interfere with test results, and how a hair collection is performed on someone who is lacking hair or is bald.

Typically, hair is cut from the crown at the back of the head in a way where it will not be noticeable. If the individual visits a Quest Diagnostics collection site, a professional collector is trained to cut only the small amount of hair needed for our laboratory to perform the test. If the cut hair is placed side by side, the amount equals approximately ½ inch of hair.

If the donor does not have head hair or if their hair is less than a ½ inch long, a specimen can be taken from other locations on the body. In order of preference, our collectors will cut the chest, underarm, leg, or facial hair to obtain a sample. Body hair is usually lighter in weight; therefore much more hair is needed to gather an adequate sample for a drug screen.

In the event that hair is not present in large quantities anywhere on body, a collector may combine hair from different locations on the body or hair from different areas of the scalp to complete a single sample. However, head hair and body hair cannot be mixed. The collector will always note the source of the hair sample on the envelope, which will aid in a more accurate interpretation of the final hair drug test result.

Hair testing is the only drug testing method available that provides up to a 90-day drug use history. This method of specimen collection has become increasingly popular as employers rely on hair testing as an effective way to evaluate long-term patterns of abuse.

Read our Hair Testing FAQs for more frequently asked questions about hair testing.

For more information about drug testing, visit our website or contact us online.

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In this month’s feature of our “I’m There” series, Claudia describes what we’re there when you need us means to her. Read the full story.

Employer Solutions shares a commitment to being there when our clients and colleagues need us–at every possible opportunity. Through unique stories from our team, you’ll get a more personal perspective of what that commitment means to each of them. To learn more about this series, read our introductory post.

For more information about Employer Solutions, visit our website or contact us online.

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