COMPLIANCE CORNER
Implementation Date of HHS Mandatory Guidelines Delayed until Oct. 1, 2010
Tomorrow a notice will be published in the Federal Register that delays the effective date of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs from May 1, 2010, to Oct. 1, 2010.
The HHS guidelines apply to federal employer drug testing programs, but the Department of Transportation (DOT) is also in the process of writing regulations that conform to the revised guidelines. On Feb. 4, 2010, the DOT issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to align DOT drug testing with the HHS drug testing guidelines. Because the 60-day public comment period for the proposed rule-making didn’t end until April 5, the DOT was unable to review comments and write the contents of the final rule by May 1. Rather than require laboratories certified under the Mandatory Guidelines to maintain a dual system for testing, the decision was made to delay the effective date until Oct. 1, 2010, by which time the DOT final rule is expected to be in place.
Among other administrative modifications, the revised guidelines add the Ecstasy family of drugs (MDMA, MDEA, MDA) to the Federal testing panel, lower the cocaine and amphetamine screening and confirmation cutoffs, create a new Federal CCF, and approve Initial Instrumented Test Facilities (IITF) as SAMHSA-approved screening facilities that can be used for all testing.
