February 7, 2002

DATIA Reports on 2001 Activities and Accomplishments
DATIA's mission includes representing the drug and alcohol testing industry in Washington, DC on key legislative and regulatory issues, expanding the workplace drug and alcohol testing market, providing members information, resources and benefits important to its operations, and promoting the highest possible standards for the industry. During the previous year, DATIA continued to expand its activities to meet the association’s goals and mission. Read about DATIA's accomplishments in 2001.

HHS To Propose Increased Funding To Narrow Drug Treatment Gap
The Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) fiscal year 2003 budget will request an increase of $127 million for the President's drug treatment initiative, providing increased funding for the Substance Abuse Block Grant (an additional $60 million) and for competitive drug treatment grants (an additional $67 million). The Substance Abuse Block Grant is the cornerstone of states' substance abuse programs, providing approximately 51 percent of all public funds expended for substance abuse treatment and support for 10,500 community- based organizations. Read the full story at drugtestingnews.com.

Question and Answer
Q: Can a collector mark through pre-printed employer, MRO, collection site, and/or laboratory information on the custody and control form (CCF) if that information is not accurate for a particular collection?

A: Yes. When the collector has no “blank” CCFs and the CCFs on-hand contain inaccurate pre-printed employer, MRO, collection site, and/or laboratory information, the collector is permitted to “line through” the inaccurate information and insert legibly the proper information. The likelihood of a collection site having CCFs with inaccurate information increases with unexpected collection events (e.g., employee arrives unannounced for post-accident testing). If the specimen will be sent to a laboratory different than the one pre-printed on the available CCF, it becomes important for the collector to modify the CCF so that it reflects the name and address of the laboratory to which the specimen will actually be sent. It is also important for the collector to line through any pre-printed billing code and insert the appropriate one, if it is available. Finally, laboratories should honor collection site requests to provide an adequate number of “blank” CCFs for use during unexpected collection events. It is important to note that the DOT permits overprinting or pre-printing of CCFs in an effort to streamline the entire testing process, not to limit the distribution of the forms to collection sites.

Read more in the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recently released additions to its Questions and Answers (Guidance) on CFR 49 Part 40.

Read other DATIA questions and answers.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR:
DATIA’s 2002 Training Sessions announced! All 2001 courses were sold out, and the 2002 courses are filling up fast. Don’t miss your chance to receive this much-needed training in 2002. http://www.datia.org/education/educationmainpage.htm

DATIA’s 2002 Annual Conference will be held May 2-4, 2002 in San Antonio, TX. Registration online or read this year's agenda.
http://www.datia.org/conference/2002/2002_conf_broch/brochures/index.html