Alere Receives U.S. HHS Approval to Electronically Process Drug Tests for Department of Transportation-Regulated Employees

Alere

, a global leader in rapid diagnostics and drug testing, today announced that following successful inspection of its laboratory in Gretna, LA, it has received approval from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) to utilize electronic custody and control forms (eCCF®) for U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulated drug tests. With this approval, drug tests for each of the DOT administrations and agencies can now be processed with the same efficient eCCF that non-regulated companies have been using for well over a decade. This change impacts federal programs governing transit, aviation, pipeline and hazardous materials, motor carriers and others. "Alere eScreen® pioneered the industry's first eCCF process more than 15 years ago, and we are delighted to become the first drug test provider to offer electronic processing for DOT-regulated employees," said Sanjay Malkani, Global President, Alere Toxicology. "As we have seen in the non-regulated sector, eCCF helps minimize errors during specimen collection, drives consistency and convenience, reduces paper waste, and links all parts of the donor screening process." Drug Screening among Federally Regulated Drivers Millions of DOT-regulated drivers in safety-sensitive positions will undergo random drug screenings in 2015. Since 1988, these drug screening tests have been processed via the SAMHSA chain of custody and control form (CCF), a 5-part paper form used to collect the urine specimens and to document handling at collection sites. While private sector employers have been processing drug tests electronically through Alere for 15 years, employers of DOT-regulated drivers have had to use more cumbersome, time- and labor-intensive hard copy forms. As of today, Alere has the ability to process DOT-regulated drug tests utilizing eCCF on the company's electronically connected Alere eScreen platform at over 3,000 sites nationwide.