Page 87 - Occupational Health & Safety, June 2019

E m p l o y e e D r u g & A l c o h o l Te s t i n g
The Value of a Medical Review Officer
Of all the service agents involved in the testing process, the MRO bears the most
significant responsiI
BY NICOLE NANCE
www.ohsonline.com
JUNE 2019 | Occupational Health & Safety 83
bility for the accuracy and integrity of the testing process.
deally, a business’ drug and alcohol testing pro- gram is mostly unseen, running in the back- ground to keep employees safe and the company protected. Workers get tested and results most
To What Degree Does the MRO Impact Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing?
Of all the service agents involved in the testing pro- cess, the MRO bears the most significant responsibil- ity for the accuracy and integrity of the testing pro- cess. Their tasks include acting as a liaison with the SAMHSA-certified lab4 that performs their testing, monitoring the processing of specimens, and follow- ing up with other medical professionals to complete their analysis. MROs must follow a number of regu- lations5 in order to maintain compliance with federal standards while working with agencies that fall under the authority of DOT.
Responsibilities of a medical review officer per 49 CFR Part 40.123:
■ Acts as a gatekeeper for the accuracy of the drug testing process;
■ Ensures integrity of the testing process, includ- ing quality assurance reviews of specimen collections and external lab certification and reliability;
■ Communicates any service agent performance issues with employers, collection sites, and labs;
■ Collaborates with the Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance (ODAPC) and/or DOT agen- cies, as needed;
■ Facilitates the timely processing of test results reporting;
■ Reviews laboratory results;
■ Evaluates medical explanations for non-nega- tive findings;
■ Investigates and intervenes with drug tests re- sulting in canceled, adulterated, substituted, or invalid findings, including problems with blind specimens;
■ Protects the confidentiality of the drug testing information; and
■ Perform all functions in accordance with DOT regulations.
Is the MRO Responsible
for Verifying Prescriptions?
One of the more critical aspects of an MRO’s job is to verify6 an employee’s claim that he is taking a medi- cally necessary medication and that this substance is what caused the non-negative drug test result.
In these cases, the MRO will conduct a verification interview with the employee, at which time the em- ployee must provide contact information for the phy- sician who prescribed the medication and the pharma- cist who dispensed the prescription.
often go to the human resources professionals, who process them accordingly.
Drug testing companies, especially those that of- fer mobile on-site drug testing, help their clients keep things moving with minimal interruption. However simple they make the process seem, there’s a great deal going on behind the scenes to ensure the testing process is handled with impartiality and the utmost professionalism.
One significant member of a company’s drug test- ing team is the Medical Review Officer (MRO). This medical professional is responsible for safeguard- ing the integrity of each testing sample. While drug testing companies rely on their collectors to obtain the specimen and laboratories to examine samples through forensic toxicology, respectively, the MRO is responsible for reviewing the process in its entirety and following it through to completion.
What Qualifications Are Required of the MRO?
Before pursuing a career as an MRO, a person must first be a physician holding licensure as a Medical Doctor (MD) or Doctor of Osteopathy (DO); howev- er, being a licensed physician is not all that’s required for becoming a professional MRO. To gain certifica- tion from the Medical Review Officer Certification Council (MROCC)—the gold standard within the profession—a physician must first complete an ap- proved MRO training course.1
These courses are provided by institutions such as American College of Occupational and Environmen- tal Medicine2 and American Osteopathic College of Occupational and Preventive Medicine.3
Upon completing a thorough training course, the physician is then eligible to take an exam administered by the Medical Review Officer Certification Council. If the individual passes the exam, only then is the phy- sician awarded his or her MRO certification. Requali- fication training is required of all MROs, generally ev- ery five years, after which the MRO must successfully complete a competency exam like that required in the beginning. These steps help ensure Medical Review Officers remain well equipped and prepared to handle all of that which is required of them by the U.S. De- partment of Transportation (DOT).