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The rate of workforce drug positivity hit a fourteen-year high in 2018, according to a new analysis released today by Quest Diagnostics. Positivity rates in the combined U.S. workforce increased nearly 5% in urine drug tests (4.2% in 2017 versus 4.4% in 2018), climbing to the highest level since 2004 (4.5%) and are now more than 2% higher than the thirty-year low of 3.5% recorded between 2010 and 2012. The new findings of the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index™ were unveiled on April 11 at the Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) annual conference in Chicago.

Last year saw the highest percentage of positive workplace drug tests since 2004, with 4.4% of American workers showing traces of drugs such as marijuana, amphetamines, opiates, cocaine, and heroin in their systems, according to the results of a new study published Wednesday. Key findings from a Quest Diagnostics analysis.

The rate of American workers testing positive in workplace drug tests hit a 14-year high in 2018, driven by an uptick in marijuana use, a new analysis found. Last year, 4.4% of workers and job applicants tested positive for drugs, a 5% increase over 2017 and the highest mark since 2004, according to an analysis of more than 10 million workplace drug tests released Thursday by Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest drug-testing laboratories in the country. Despite the increase, the rate remains significantly lower than that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when rates were in the double digits.

The rate of workforce drug positivity hit a 14-year high in 2018, according to analysis released today by drug-testing firm Quest Diagnostics. Positivity rates in urine drug tests in the combined US workforce rose to 4.4% in 2018, up from 4.2% in 2017. This is the highest level since 4.5% in 2004 and higher than the 30-year low of 3.5% recorded between 2010 and 2012.

The rate of positive drug tests among U.S. workers hit a 14-year high last year with marijuana topping the list of most commonly detected illicit substances, an analysis released today by Quest Diagnostics shows. Ten states and the District of Columbia have OK’d recreational marijuana for adults, and in more than half of all states medical marijuana is legal. The state initiatives pose problems for employers and mariners — or potential mariners — who may use marijuana when not at work. Federal law still considers marijuana illegal, so weed is off limits for those in safety-sensitive jobs under Coast Guard and Department of Transportation (DOT) jurisdiction.

The number of U.S. workers who tested positive for marijuana and other drugs jumped to a 14-year high in 2018, according to the drug-testing laboratory Quest Diagnostics Inc. Quest Diagnostics found that 2.3 percent of 10 million urine, saliva and hair samples from U.S. workers tested positive for marijuana in 2018, a 10-percent increase over the prior year. About 4.4 percent of samples contained some kind of illegal or legal drug, a 14-year high, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Marijuana use is increasing among US workers as more states legalize the drug for recreational and medical consumption, a new study from Quest Diagnostics found. The rate of US workers and job applicants who tested positive for all drugs - including opiates, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana - hit a fourteen year high last year, the study found based on an analysis of nearly 9 million urine tests.

Most employers in New York City would no longer be able to force job applicants to take drug tests for marijuana use, under a bill overwhelmingly approved this week by the City Council. If the drug-screening law is enacted, it would put New York in relatively uncharted territory. Several drug policy and employment experts said that they did not know of similar laws on the books, even in states that have legalized marijuana. Quest Diagnostics, one of the nation’s largest medical testing companies, released data on Thursday that said that marijuana use had risen among United States workers in 2018. An analysis of more than 10 million drug-test results showed that 2.3 percent of the American work force tested positive for marijuana use in 2018, up from 2 percent a year earlier.

More American workers are testing positive for marijuana, a new report finds, as lawmakers in New Jersey and Illinois push to join nearly a dozen more states where recreational use of the drug is now legal. The number of workers and job applicants who tested positive for marijuana climbed 10% last year to 2.3%, according to an analysis of 10 million urine, saliva and hair samples by Quest Diagnostics Inc., one the nation’s largest drug-testing laboratories. The Quest data, which is set to be released Thursday, found 4.4% of the analyzed samples contained traces of both legal and illegal controlled substances including pot, prescription painkillers and other drugs—the highest such rate since 2004.

The rate of U.S. general workforce drug positivity hit a 14-year high in 2018, according to a new drug testing analysis released April 11 by Quest Diagnostics. Positivity rates in the combined U.S. workforce increased nearly 5% in urine drug tests, from 4.2% in 2017 to 4.4% in 2018, climbing to the highest level since 2004 (4.5%). They now are more than 25% higher than the 30-year low of 3.5% recorded each year from 2010-12.

More Americans are showing up for work high or with marijuana in their system, according to a new analysis released Thursday by Quest Diagnostics. Roughly 4.4 percent of more than 10 million workplace drug tests in 2018 showed positive results, marking a 14-year high, Quest said. It represents an increase from 4.2 percent in 2017 and is the highest since 2004, when the provider of diagnostic information services found 4.5 percent of workplace samples tested positive for drugs.

University of Connecticut students who get lab work done at Student Health Services (SHS) can now access the results of that work through their health portal, located at myhealth.uconn.edu. Once students log into their account on the my health portal, they should click on “My Profile,” then click on “Lab History” from the dropdown menu.Lori Masters, director of clinical data analytics and health information management at Student Health and Wellness, said the lab work students get done at SHS is sent to Quest Diagnostics, and after Quest runs tests and gives the results to SHS, the results are available in the health portal within one or two days.

Joey Hale and Ben Ricks were cutting pipe from a scaffold in an elevator shaft last June. Their job was to help turn the hulk of the Old Shoe Co. in St. Louis into a high-end hotel. The cable snapped, and they fell six floors to their death. Neither was wearing a safety harness. They weren't alone. Elevator accidents have more than doubled in recent years, as both older, less-agile workers and younger ones with little or no training are working longer hours in dangerous construction and transportation jobs. There's also a shortage of healthy workers. Many companies have lowered standards to accept people who have failed or barely passed drug tests, according to Quest Diagnostics. Workplace overdoses due to alcohol and drugs have increased by 25 percent for five consecutive years ending 2017, the latest year records are available. The worst states are in the Midwest, according to US Drug Test Centers.

Drug tests are frequently part of an employer’s drug-free workplace program and may require both prospective and current employees, known as donors, to provide a drug test specimen. With urine being the most widely used specimen type, a donor will often visit a collection site and complete a urine drug test collection. The process is typically seamless and straightforward. However, there may be scenarios where witnessing the collection of the specimen is necessary, for example, when a donor takes part in well-choreographed and intentional efforts to undermine, or cheat, the drug test collection process.

Having over the last two decades established themselves in the vaccination space, pharmacies are now moving into point-of-care testing. The spread of POC testing technology along with changes in state regulations and pharmacist education are driving an increase in pharmacist-administered testing, said Michael Klepser, a professor of pharmacy at Ferris State University, whose research focus includes the utility and implementation of pharmacy POC testing.Pharmacy POC testing is distinct from other retail testing models like retail clinics such as CVS' MinuteClinic, which offers a relatively wide range of healthcare services (typically provided by a physician assistant or nurse practitioner), or collaborations between retailers and reference labs like Quest Diagnostics or Laboratory Corporation of America, where the retailers essentially serve as draw centers for these labs.

Nineteen New Jersey companies received perfect scores in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2019 Corporate Equality Index, used to judge how employers meet the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community with policies and practices. Other top-score earners include Subaru of America Inc. in Cherry Hill; Prudential Financial Inc. in Newark; BASF Corp. in Florham Park; ADP in Roseland; Dun & Bradstreet Corp. in Short Hills; Campbell Soup Co. in Camden; Quest Diagnostics Inc. in Lyndhurst; Becton, Dickinson and Co. in Franklin Lakes; Wyndham Destinations in Parsippany; Horizon Healthcare Services Inc. in Newark; Day Pitney LLP in Parsippany; Bayer U.S. LLC in Whippany; Celgene Corp. in Summit; Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick; Merck in Kenilworth; Sanofi in Bridgewater; Unilever in Englewood Cliffs; and American Express Global Business Travel in Jersey City.

Four companies were recognized for their contributions to Quest while displaying behavior consistent with the company’s values of Quality, Integrity, Innovation, Accountability, Collaboration and Leadership. The awards were given during a meeting which brought together senior executives from over 40 key suppliers.

It has been a tough stretch for health-care stocks in 2019, and there is a good chance it isn’t over yet.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is one of several Democratic presidential candidates pushing for Medicare for All. With the 2020 presidential election still 18 months away, the direction of health-care policy is likely to remain.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Diagnostics (DGX) yields 2.2%. The company provides medical tests for a long list of medical conditions, including lung cancer, allergies, and hepatitis C. Last month it was named a preferred labor provider for UnitedHealth.

The reality of legalization in Illinois, if it happens at all, would likely be much hazier. Some employers might start turning a blind eye to employee use - as long as workers can still do their jobs - a trend that's already happening in some other states where it's legal. Other employers, however, might still ban its use, taking action against employees who test positive for pot, bolstered by federal law under which marijuana is still illegal, experts say. In Colorado, about 96 percent of employers who used the drug testing company Quest Diagnostics in 2017 still included marijuana in their employee drug testing, said Dr. Barry Sample, senior director of science and technology for Quest's employers solutions business. In Nevada, where recreational cannabis use is also legal, that number was 91 percent in 2017.

Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation's hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day. "Last December, a survey of hospital and health network C-level administrators conducted by Modern Healthcare and Quest Diagnostics revealed that nearly 80% of survey respondents were unaware that their institutions met the definition of 'applicable laboratory' and were thus legally required to report the clinical laboratory test prices they were paid by private health insurers," explained Robert L. Michel, Editor-In-Chief of THE DARK REPORT.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, received a perfect score of 100 from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index, earning the distinction of being a "Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality." The Corporate Equality Index (CEI) is a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. This is third year Quest has earned the designation as a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.

Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, hosted Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker at its state-of-the-art clinical testing laboratory in Marlborough, Massachusetts on Friday, March 29. During the visit Governor Baker toured the laboratory, met with employees, and learned more about the company's initiatives in the areas of pricing transparency, Alzheimer's treatment and detection, and combatting the opioid epidemic. Marlborough Mayor Arthur Vigeant joined Governor Baker on the visit.

The prospect of marijuana legalization might inspire visions of weed-smoking breaks at work, or grabbing a joint with co-workers after a hectic day at the office.[CR-LF][CR-LF]But the reality of legalization in Illinois, if it happens at all, would likely be much hazier. Some employers might start turning a blind eye to employee use — as long as workers can still do their jobs — a trend that’s already happening in some other states where it’s legal. Other employers, however, might still ban its use, taking action against employees who test positive for pot, bolstered by federal law under which marijuana is still illegal, experts say. In Colorado, about 96 percent of employers who used the drug testing company Quest Diagnostics in 2017 still included marijuana in their employee drug testing, said Dr. Barry Sample, senior director of science and technology for Quest’s employers solutions business. In Nevada, where recreational cannabis use is also legal, that number was 91 percent in 2017.

Currently 10 states and Washington, D.C., allow recreational use of marijuana, and Illinois, New Jersey and New York are considering doing the same. This puts companies—already grappling with a shortage of workers—in a bind because an increasing number of candidates are failing routine drug tests due to smoking pot in those states, the Wall Street Journal reports. While legalized marijuana has created jobs and brought in additional tax dollars for those states, the spillover effect has more job applicants unable to pass standard drug tests, according to Quest Diagnostics.

In a perspective article in the New York Times, Dr. Diane M. Simeone, who directs the Pancreatic Cancer Center at New York University Langone Health, suggested that early detection is a solution. Quest Diagnostics found that 5.3 percent of retail workers tested positive for drugs in 2017, up from 4.7 percent in 2015, and the highest of any job sector. The Quest sampling suggests that about 837,000 of the 15.8 million retail workers across the U.S. would have tested positive if all had been checked.