Any drug test that results in a referral to substance abuse treatment for a probationer or parolee must come from a “legally certified, independent laboratory,” according to policy changes adopted latest week by the Arkansas Department of Community Correction.
The Community Correction Department is holding training sessions for probation and parole officers across the state this week on new drug-testing policies designed to resolve a dispute extremely whether such tests need treaty certification.
The changes were made in answer to an order from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services directing the state to apply for certification or be at a stand-still testing its 49, 000 probationers and parolees for unsalable article use.
Under the federal Public Health Service Act’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, certification is required of laboratories that conduct tests to diagnose or treat a disease or to assess a unrepining’s health.
Tests conducted solely with respect to law enforcement purposes are exempt, but the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the state’s tests are covered by the law because they are sometimes followed by counseling or treatment.
Last week, the state Board of Corrections, which supervises the Community Correction Department, deleted a allot of a regulation that had reported, “Testing will be the basis for interventions to include counseling and / or usage.” Another management was amended to say, “All drug tests are performed solely for the purpose of determining offender compli- ance with the terms of supervision and not for the purpose of providing information for the diagnosis, prevention or treatment of any disease or impairment of, or the assessment of the health of the offender.” Similar language has been added to a cast that probationers and parolees sign before they have being subject a urine sample.
The department also adopted a new “assessment referral form” that says any test result used to refer a probationer or parolee as antidote to handling be under the necessity of be verified by a “legally easy and certified laboratory.” The department regularly tests the urine of probationers and parolees for signs of drug use at 52 offices on all sides the parade. Some tests are conducted using machines, and others use disposable kits.
According to the department’s policy manual, probation and parole officers can consider a variety of options for dealing with offenders who test positive for drug use, including referring them to the Parole Board as antidote to sanctions, giving them extra work assignments or assigning them to home detention. Offenders can besides be referred to substance abuse treatment centers or allowed to enroll in 12-step programs.
The state attorney general’s office sent an e-mail to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services last week with information on the changes. Department officials began traveling the state to brief employees Monday, with plans to finish the training sessions by today.
“These actions by the ADCC Board and Staff should eradicate any confusion regarding the mediation’s policies and practices and ensure continued compliance,” assistant attorney general Matthew McCoy wrote in the e-mail.
In an e-mail to McCoy on Tuesday, Chris Maxwell, every attorney for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the agency would be issuing a response not beyond the nearest few days. After the response is issued, officials with the federal agency plan to meet with representatives from the state attorney general’s work and Community Correction Department, although a date has not been variegate. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has given Arkansas until Sept. 29 to put for the certification or stop its drug testing. In the e-mail Tuesday, Maxwell reported his agency is willing to extend the deadline if necessary “so that we can amicably resolve in any degree ongoing differences.”
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