Audit Request: Proof of Enrollment

DrugTestNetwork’s Data Management Application provides the software tools essential for keeping track of data to insure DOT compliance. DOT Auditors will often ask for proof of enrollment for someone who is required to comply with DOT regulations.  One requirement for compliance is that all covered employees participate in random selections for drug and alcohol testing. Typically, Proof of Enrollment or Proof of Participation is verified by showing that the employee participated in each random selection for the calendar year of the audit.

Search for the Client/Company to which the participant belongs; i.e., the company that employs the  participant.

For the Client/Company, to list their random selections, click the icon:

When the List Randoms window opens, enter the dates for the audit request and click Submit Request. For each random selection, click the people icon to show the list of participants in the random selection.

The person’s name appears in the list showing they participated in the random selection and were eligible to be picked for random drug/alcohol testing.

You’ll want to print this list for each random that was generated in the calendar period of the audit request.

Overall Qualitative Results: OQR

Every report for a drug/alcohol test includes an overall qualitative result (OQR).  A test result will report with OQR Positive if a single substance is reported Positive.  If all substances in the test report Negative, its OQR is reported as Negative.

To find test results with a specific OQR, for all clients, click the Result menu.  Under Results, click the report icon for option 6.b All Clients: specified calendar period

When the report control page opens, specify the dates for the report.  In section 2, choose an OQR (Result) from the dropdown list of OQRs.  For the DOT MIS Report, for example, test results considered as Other Refusals are test results with an OQR: DEC (Declined) or REFUSAL (Refusals).  Scroll to the bottom of the report control and click the option: Display to Screen.

If you want the same report for a single client account:

  • Search for the client.
  • On the line for the client account, click the report icon

When the report control page opens, near the top of the page, choose the report option
and then choose the same options as outlined above for reporting across all clients.

DOT MIS Report: Correcting Mode/Category

The DrugTestNetwork (DTN) Drug & Alcohol Data Management system manages all the required information for random selection testing, pre-employment, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return to duty, and follow-up testing, so your data conforms, without issue, to the DOT MIS Report. Occasionally, data corrections are needed so nuanced details can be managed without complication.  Some corrections include making sure the Reason for Testing is consistent with the DOT guidelines.  Another correction often required is the Mode (FMCSA, FAA, PHMSA, FRA, USCG, and FTA) and the covered-employee categories reported.

The DOT MIS Report breaks the data down by each Mode/Category represented by the employees who have submitted to drug and alcohol testing and participated in random selections. The MIS Report produces a separate page for each Mode/Category represented by the data. The no. of employees covered under each Mode/Category reported in the MIS is based on the average no. of employees who participated in random selections conducted within the period of the report.

Steps to Make the Required Corrections:

  • Set the Mode in the account profile for all accounts that participate in testing.
  • For the calendar period that will be covered by the MIS Report, review the random selection audit records that preserve a list of all the participants and make sure each participant’s Mode/Category, in the audit record, is properly set.
  • Using the DOT MIS Analytics report, check that every test result properly states the Mode/Category for the donor.

Set the Mode for the Account:
Every personnel record for each participant must include the DOT Category for the Mode specified for the account roster. If the employer has employees under different Modes, a separate account is required for each mode: the DOT Mode applies to everyone in the roster under the account.  To set the Mode for an account, search for the company and click the Account Profile Edit icon and set the Mode.

Set the Mode for each Consortium Member:
If you need to correct the Mode for Consortium member accounts, on the main page of the application, choose the Consortium in the drop-down, as shown below, and click the first icon , on the right, to list all member accounts:

When the accounts are listed, click the Profile Editor icon and make sure the Mode for each account is properly specified as needed.

Optionally, consortium member accounts can be listed from the Consortia Mgt page. Click the menu Consortia to open the page.  Under the Consortia menu, all consortia in the subscriber’s account are listed with management options.  To list the members for each consortium, click the option icon Show Accounts:

The listing will show each member account, its Mode, the number of active employees in the roster and a option icons to open the Account Profile Editor and the Personnel Management Utility.  The list will also show how many personnel records in the roster are missing a Mode/Category specification. 

Audit Records:
When a random selection is generated the list of participants is saved as a permanent record.  This record is used to count the number of participants in each random selection and calculate the average across the randoms selections that were conducted for the reporting period of the MIS Report.  The audit record includes each person, and their Mode/Category,  who participated in each random selection.  An MIS Report page is provided for each Mode/Category represented.  If Mode/Category modifications are required for the Account, the Mode/Category for each person in the audit record must be changed too in order for the MIS to correctly report the no. of employees covered.

Correct the Mode/Category in the Audit Record:
To change the Mode/Category for each participant recorded in the audit record, you’ll need to list the random selections that were generated for the account or the consortium.  For random selections generated for individual accounts, search for the account and click the list randoms icon . For a consortium, choose the consortium from the drop-down as noted above and click the list randoms icon there on the right.

Enter the dates for random selections that were generated for the period of the MIS report. For each random selection, click the people icon to list everyone who participated in the random selection.

When the list opens, choose the Mode/Category you want to apply to everyone in the list from the the drop-down selector:

To choose everyone in the list, put a check the check-box on the header line at the top of the list:

When everyone is selected, click the DOT icon to apply the Mode/Category, specified in the drop-down, to everyone selected.

Test Result Reports Refer to Mode/Category and may need corrections:
After every participant’s Mode/Category has been set, you will need to set the Mode/Category for all the test result records that will be considered for the MIS report.

For an individual account, click the report icon

For a consortium, choose the consortium from the drop-down as outlined above, and click the report icon on the right.

When the report module, opens, indicate the year of the report and choose the report:

After you set the year of the report, scroll down to select the MIS Report option:

When the Analytics Report opens, you will find a Mode/Category drop-down (see image below) it will list all the drug/alcohol reports for the account or the consortium, depending on how you navigated to the report.  Each drug/alcohol test result will show if it conforms to the MIS Report.  For test results that do not conform to the MIS Report, the reason for the non-conformity will be shown under the test result record:

This example, above, shows the Mode/Category is not consistent with the Mode for the account to which the test result belongs. In the dropdown selection with all the Mode/Category options, choose the Mode/Category for the test result record, and check the box for each drug/alcohol test listed in the report (the checkbox is on the far left) that requires a Mode/Category correction.

Check ALL Checkboxes in a single click: You will find a checkbox at the top of the list, when checked, it will automatically check the box for all the result records listed:

When all the check-boxes have been set as needed, click the Set Mode icon, under the Mode/Category drop-down, shown in the image above, to set the Mode/Category to every test result record selected with a check-box.

When completed, you can generate the MIS Report with the Mode/Category corrected.

DOT MIS Report: Consortium & Members

For drug and alcohol testing, a company can join a consortium so their employee pool is combined with the other consortium members for random selection.  The random selection picks names from a list comprised of all active employees across all the members’ rosters.  Every member company is in DOT compliance simply by participating in the random selections, regardless if anyone from their company is picked.

The DOT specifies annual targets for the number of random drug and alcohol tests that must be conducted.  For example, FMCSA requires 50% of the pool submits a urine sample for substance testing, and 10% of the pool submits to a breath alcohol test.  If these targets are met, the consortium is considered in compliance for random testing, which means every member company is in compliance regardless the number of random tests their company contributes to the overall numbers.  The annual percentages are based on the average number of participants across all randoms conducted for the year.  DrugTestNetwork’s data management application for drug and alcohol testing keeps a complete audit trail of the participant list for every random selection conducted.  When an audit is conducted, you will often be asked to produce a list of participants for each random.

You can generate the DOT MIS Report for the entire consortium and for each individual member accounts.  Typically, the TPA provides the MIS Report for each member’s testing and not for the entire consortium.  If audited, the DOT Auditor may ask the TPA for the MIS Report for the entire consortium. Companies with 50 or more drivers are required to submit the report to the DOT.  Companies with fewer are not required unless requested.  Check the DOT for these requirements as the details may change.

Consortium DOT MIS Report: To generate the MIS for the consortium, from any the main application pages, click the Consortia menu and then click the report icon  on the line that represents the consortium.

Individual Member DOT MIS Report: To generate the MIS for an individual company that is a member of the consortium, search for the company and click its report icon .

From the report module, choose the months to be covered in the report. For example, if you want just the first quarter, pick January and March, or for a full year report, pick January and December.  Below months,  indicate the year the report covers, and scroll down the page and click the option: DOT MIS Report.

Contact / Client Representative Profile

A Contact is a customer representative with whom you communicate regarding employee drug & alcohol test results, random selections, personnel / roster management, and more.  You can give contacts login access to view reports and manage their accounts.

Each company/client can have multiple contacts and each contact can be assigned to one or more accounts under the company.

The contact profile editor lets you control login access, what they can see and do when they log-in and what reports they receive through the application.

To add or edit a contact: from the Clients page, search for the account to which the contact belongs.  For the accounts returned by your search, near the left side of the listing, on the line that represents the company/account, click the Client-Mgt icon to open the management module.  When the module window opens, click the button, on the left, titled: Contacts.

Click the icon   to add a new contact or click the edit icon to edit the profile for an existing contact.

The contact profile editor has multiple sections. Continue reading

Assign Clinics to Administrative Users

One data component of both the Collection and the Clinic Invoice modules is the identifier for the clinic where the services are performed. On any of the main application pages, click the Home icon to access these features. The clinics available for selection in these modules are the clinics assigned to the user who is logged in and recording the service.  If the service is not for self-pay by the customer, but gets invoiced later, it’s important to make sure the clinic has its Service Center attribute turned on.  A test result report can reference any clinic, however, if a sample collection is observed or collection-only, then those services are triggered to automatically invoice only if the clinic specified in the report record is a service center. If the clinic is not a service center, then only the drug/alcohol test is invoiced and the fee is usually determined by the panel and the alcohol test type, if alcohol tests are invoiced, for breath alcohol or oral fluid tests, for example.

To assign clinics to the user:
From any of the main application pages, click the Account menu.
On the Account page, click the feature: User Management.
On the User Management page, click the Assign icon , under the column titled Clinics, on the line that identifies the user.

When the Assignment module opens, click the green plus sign icon to search for and associate a clinic with the user.

Note: Clinics are managed under the Other-Data menu.

 

Clinic Services: Create an Invoice

If you provide clinic services, you can create an invoice for any service the clinic offers.  If a customer arrives for drug testing, you can record the collection and the results, if it’s an instant test, and create an invoice, if the service is a self-pay, i.e., the individual is paying for their own test.  If other services are provided in the same visit, you can add additional services to the invoice once the collection is recorded.

If the fee for services is paid by the employer, an invoice doesn’t need to be created at the time of the collection.  The fee for the drug/alcohol test will be added automatically to the employer’s invoice the next time an invoice is generated for the account that represents the employer in your database; all test results and collections are automatically invoiced.  If you charge for an observed collection, be to check the box in the collection module to indicate the sample was an observed collection.  For the observation fee to automatically get included in the invoice for the employer, be sure your list of services includes the observation fee, and be sure the clinic is designated as a Service Center. Services and Clinics are managed under Other Data. If you’re providing additional services, you can add the fees for the services as pending line items.  All pending line items are added to the employer’s invoice the next time an invoice is generated for the employer.

To enter a collection into the database, from any of the main application pages, click the beaker icon, seen on the left. This action will open the collection module. You can also click the Home icon to navigate to the Home page and choose the option: Enter a Specimen Collection for Analytics and Reporting

How to Create an Invoice for Services that DO NOT include Drug/Alcohol Testing:

If you need to create an invoice for a specific individual, for services that do not include drug/alcohol related testing, click the Home icon, from any of the main application pages, and choose the feature: Invoice a Service for Self-Pay or Account Invoicing

This option will allow you to create an invoice for a self-pay customer or add line items as pending charges that get added to the employer’s invoice next time invoices are generated.  This module creates invoices or line items specific to the individual and the services provided.  If the services are not specific to an individual, there are other places in the application where you can add line items to get invoiced later. This module is used only if the fees are specific to services provided to an individual: physicals, medical exams, respirator fits, functional testing, etc.

This module requires the user to be associated with one or more clinics in the database.

To assign clinics to the user:
From any of the main application pages, click the Account menu.
On the Account page, click the feature: User Management.
On the User Management page, click the Assign icon , under the column titled Clinics, on the line that identifies the user.
When the Assignment module opens, click the green plus sign icon to search for and associate a clinic with the user.

Manage Invoices for an Employer Account:
To manage invoices, search for the Employer Account and click its Client-Mgt icon from the line that represents the account as shown in the screenshot below:


When the Client-Mgt module opens, click the button Acct.Services and choose one of the Invoice features shown below:

 

Invoice Options allows the user to set some miscellaneous invoice attributes. For Clients with multiple accounts, you can choose to have a single invoice generated for all the accounts or separate invoices for each account, which is the default.

The other features, Invoice and Invoice Line Items, open the same module, however, each one opens the page with a different section upon initialization, and the user can navigate to the other sections after it’s opened.  The feature allows the user to choose from the list of services and create line items that get added to an invoice when the invoice is generated.  The user can also manually enter a line item if a service doesn’t exist for a specific fee that needs to be invoiced.

Drug Test Reports: Entering Results

A Test Result record reports the results of a drug and an alcohol test.

There are three editors you can use to enter a drug/alcohol test:

  • Quick Results
  • Full Result Editor
  • Collection Module

Each editor allows the user to easily enter the personal demographics for a new subject or find an existing subject who is already in the database. With the Full Result Editor and the Collection Module you can also find existing test results for editing if you need to make modifications or create new test results for reporting.

Quick Result Editor (QRE): To use the Quick Result Editor, search for a customer account into which the result will be saved.  When you find the customer account, click the account’s drug/alcohol icon (shown on the right)  to open the editor.  The QRE has most of the data components to completely specify a test result presented on a page where the user starts at the top and scrolls to the bottom to complete the data required for the report. The page shows how many test subjects (employees, drivers, patients, etc.) are currently in the account.  The user can list all subjects in the account and choose the one needed, or easily search to find the person who is the subject of the test.  It the subject doesn’t yet exist in the account, their personal demographics can be entered along with the testing information.  If the user manually enters a new test subject and the person already exists in the account, then the user alerted and can continue with the person identified. From there, the user can enter the rest of the test result data and save it by clicking the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Full Result Editor (FRE): At the top of any of the main application pages, to open the Full Result Editor, click the edit icon (shown on the right ).  Using this editor, the user can search for an existing test result that might need to be modified, or create a new test result for a subject who has submitted a sample for drug/alcohol testing.  The options to find an existing test result or create a new result are accessed using buttons on the left side of the page. The image below is a screenshot of a portion of the result editor when it opens:

By default the editor opens so the user can find existing tests by Name, ID, CCF, Test-ID (database record no.), etc.  Click the button titled Existing Person to find someone to create a new test result record.  Click the button titled New Person and add a new personnel record and create a test result.

 

Collection Module: To create a test result record for a collection conducted by your clinic, click the Home icon at the top of any of the main application pages.

On the Home page, click the option Enter a Specimen Collection for Analytics and Reporting. Using this module, the user can open an existing record, create a new collection record for an existing subject (a person who is the subject of a test) or enter a new subject for the collection. The user can enter a drug & alcohol record that is a collection only: no results are recorded: the user simply checks a box to indicate the drug/alcohol record is collection only. The user can also select a Panel for an instant test and complete the results for each substance the instant test detects.  When the collection is saved the user can create an invoice if the test is a self-paid test; i.e., the subject is paying for their own test.

The collection has a drop-down list of clinics so the user can specify the clinic where the collection is performed.  The subscriber’s database may have hundreds of clinics listed, however, the only clinics that appear in the drop-down are the clinics assigned to the user performing the data-entry.

To assign clinics to the user:
From any of the main application pages, click the Account menu.
On the Account page, click the feature: User Management.
On the User Management page, under the column titled Clinics, click the Assign icon on the line that identifies the user.
When the Assignment module opens, click the green plus sign icon to search for and associate a clinic with the user.

Random Selection Statistics Report

Many Random selection programs for drug and alcohol testing aim to annually test a percentage of their eligible employees. The U.S. Deportment of Transportation (DOT) specifies an annual target for each transportation mode: FMCSA, FAA, FRA, etc.

In DrugTestNetwork, the consortium profile and accounts that are their own pool, each specify annual targets, separately for drug and alcohol tests.

When a test is completed, and a collection date is entered, the test counts toward the annual targets.

When a random selection is generated, an empty drug/alcohol record is created for each person selected. The empty record is used to help notify employers when a test remains incomplete. If a collection date has not been entered or a result recorded, the test is considered incomplete. Some users find it helpful to set the overall qualitative result (OQR) as “Not-Tested” to indicate a test was not conducted. The drug and breath alcohol test are recorded in a single database record and the collection date is assumed to be for both the drug test and the alcohol test since both are usually conducted together.

Every OQR result code has an attribute in the OQR Table: DO NOT Contribute to Statistics. Setting this OQR attribute to Yes prevents the Random Selection tests from getting counted toward the annual targets when the test’s result code is set to an OQR with the attribute turned on.

After a collection date is entered, but only one of the tests was completed (drug or alcohol) the incomplete test should not be counted toward the annual target. Using the OQR Not-Tested, with the attribute turned ON, will prevent the test from counting toward the annual target.

eOrder: Find the Closet Clinic and Order Testing

DrugTestNetwork’s platform is integrated with Quest to place eOrders [online].  You can find the closest clinic to your location or the closet clinic to the employee: order a drug test, alcohol test and physical.  Over 10,000 Quest affiliated clinics are updated weekly.

Find the closest clinics and review the services they provide and print an Order Authorization you can give the employee; hard-copy and/or email. The clinic can use the printed or electronic document to conveniently bring up the order, confirm, perform the services and submit the collected sample.  LabCorp and CRL are the next labs planned for integration.

Click HERE to review the “Find Clinic Demo.

DOT MIS Report: Drug Classes and Substance Classifications

The DOT MIS Report is limited to 5 specific drugs and drug classes.  Click HERE to review the DOT pdf document that outlines the details to fill out the MIS Report. https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/MIS_Data_Collection_Form_Instructions508CLN.pdf
  • Amphetamines
  • Opiates
  • Marijuana
  • Cocaine
  • PCP
DrugTestNetwork allows users to define drug test panels with any number of substances required for specific drug testing programs. Each substance is entered in two parts: a name/abbreviation and the full substance name/description. As such it is difficult to determine exactly which substances in a panel are related to Amphetamines or Opiates or might be Marijuana or Cocaine metabolites.  The DOT has added new substances to the list for reporting, however, the basic “5 Panel” has not changed over the last 10 years and continues to include the 5 drugs and drug classes outlined above.  Some panels might include items that are not reported such as Nicotine, for example. In order to accurately generate the DOT MIS Report, every substance that’s indicated with a Positive result needs to be correlated to one of the DOT MIS reporting classes: Amphetamines, Opiates, Marijuana, Cocaine or PCP.
For example, if a panel includes a positive for Carboxy-THC (a marijuana metabolite), the user will be asked to correlate the substance to its appropriate report classification: Marijuana.  Similarly, Ocycodone must be correlated to Opiates, etc.
As users have added new substances to their Federal DOT 5 Panel, this approach to classification has become necessary because, for example, abbreviations for the “Oxy” and “Hydro” drugs have varied from one user to another and EDI data (Electronic Data Interchange) from Labs and MROs also vary greatly. The new approach requires very little input from the user; a substance (Name, Description) only needs to be correlated once.
Before the MIS report is generated, the application automatically checks all test results for the period requested and every positive substance is added to the DOT MIS Substance correlation table and users must then specify to which reporting group the substance belongs.

Medtox EDI

Medtox EDI: Electronic Data Interchange – Results Delivered Electronically

We’ve made changes to how we report some items for Medox EDI.

Medtox provides EDI in their own proprietary format; quasi HL7 data.  The T segment in the Medox EDI data file reports substances and respective results.  Technically the T segment is Medtox’s “Observation Segment.” Some Medtox T segments report observed values for items such as Test Names, Price, Status, Units of Measure and others, which are not specific to a particular substance in the panel but represent overall qualitative values associated with the sample.
For Example:
T|1|95000||TEST NAME|ST|MIRTAZAPINE|||||||
T|2|95020||PRICE|ST|?.??|||||||
T|3|95040||RESULT|ST|NEGATIVE|||||||
T|4|95060||FLAG|ST|??|||||||
T|5|95080||NORMAL|ST|Normal Value|||||||
T|6|95100||UNIT OF MEASURE|ST|units|||||||
T|10|2529||DRUG TEST RESULT|ST|NEGATIVE|||||||
T|11|2526||DRUG TEST RESULT|ST|DILUTE|||||||

Some of these observed values do not fit into the standard reporting paradigm for substances; some T segments report qualitative results, such as Negative or Positive and some T segments report quantitative, or numeric values for levels of the drug that was detected.

DTNet now takes some T values and reports them in the Lab Notes.

The observations noted above will report in the Lab Notes section of the data record as:
TEST NAME: MIRTAZAPINE
PRICE: ?.??
RESULT: NEGATIVE
FLAG: ??
NORMAL: Normal Value
UNIT OF MEASURE: units
DRUG TEST RESULT: NEGATIVE
DRUG TEST RESULT: DILUTE

NOTE: Some T segment values are used to set flags in the DTNet result record; If Dilute is detected in these T segments, the boolean value for “Dilute” is set in the report record for the test.  Adulterated tests are monitored in a similar manner as well.  Medtox reports dilute, adulterated and substituted in multiple ways within a single report and DTNet monitors all the different ways to insure the status is not overlooked.

Previously, DTNet did not include lab comments in the Lab Notes section of the report record.  Lab Comments are provided through the “C” segment of their proprietary format.  The comments have always been preserved in the EDI Data component of the report record but not specifically in “Lab Notes” included on the standard report.

All C segments are now reported in Lab Notes and appear on the customer copy of the report along with the T segments outlined above.