Employers searching for drug testing labs are usually looking for two different things at once: somewhere the employee can go and give a specimen, and a laboratory that analyses it. Those are almost always separate businesses, and understanding the split is what stops you comparing two quotes that are not for the same work. This page sets out the chain, who is certified for what, and where the cost sits.
The collection site and the laboratory are different links
A collection site is a clinic, occupational health centre or patient service centre where a trained collector takes the specimen, checks identity, and completes the chain of custody form. The laboratory is where the specimen is analysed. A national testing network sells you access to thousands of collection sites and routes the specimens to a small number of laboratories. When you buy a test you are buying the collection, the analysis, and usually a review, and providers bundle or itemise those three differently, which is the main reason quotes are hard to compare.
What certification actually means
For testing performed under federal authority, laboratories must be certified by the Department of Health and Human Services under the National Laboratory Certification Program, and only certified laboratories may analyse federally regulated specimens. That certification involves proficiency testing and inspection on a continuing basis. A great many workplace tests are not federally regulated, and for those an employer is free to use any laboratory, but using an HHS-certified one is the straightforward way to know the analysis will withstand challenge. Ask a provider directly whether the laboratory it routes to is certified, because a collection network's own accreditation is a different thing.
Chain of custody is the part that fails
The federal custody and control form documents every hand the specimen passes through, from the donor to the collector to the courier to the laboratory. Its purpose is to make a result defensible: if you cannot show the specimen that was analysed is the one the donor produced, the result proves nothing. Most successful challenges to a workplace test are challenges to the chain of custody or the collection procedure rather than to the chemistry. When you are evaluating a testing provider, the collection procedure is the part worth asking detailed questions about.
Where the cost sits
Panel testing is bought from collection and laboratory networks, not from the background screening providers whose prices this site records. The five providers here that publish a rate publish it for record searches. A drug test is quoted separately, usually per test, with the collection fee, the analysis and any Medical Review Officer review either bundled or listed as three lines. When you compare, make sure both quotes include the same three, because a headline price that excludes the MRO review is not comparable with one that includes it.
Questions people ask about drug testing labs
Is the collection site the same as the laboratory?
Almost never. The collection site takes the specimen and completes the chain of custody form; the laboratory analyses it. A testing network sells access to many collection sites and routes specimens to a few laboratories.
Does the laboratory have to be certified?
For federally regulated testing, yes: only laboratories certified by HHS under the National Laboratory Certification Program may analyse those specimens. For unregulated employer testing there is no such requirement, but a certified laboratory is the straightforward way to know the result will hold up.
What is chain of custody?
The documented record of everyone who handled the specimen, from donor to collector to laboratory. It is what makes a result defensible, and it is where most successful challenges to a test are actually aimed.
Why do two quotes for the same panel differ so much?
Usually because one includes the collection fee and Medical Review Officer review and the other quotes only the laboratory analysis. Ask for all three lines before comparing.