Checkr Health: Drug screenings

Checkr Health Checks combine drug screenings with occupational health checks, allowing you to evaluate your candidates’ physical fitness for your job requirements. Drug and occupational health screenings can be ordered separately or together, depending your needs. 

This article will help you understand: 

• Overview
• Adding screenings to your account
• Which substances do the panels test for?
• Screening process
• Reviewing report results
• Getting help
• Turnaround time
• Candidate experience
• Additional FAQs

Overview

Drug screenings allow companies to test their candidates for a broad range of substances to reduce the costs and risks associated with the impact of drug abuse in the workplace. 

Checkr partners with eScreen to offer a wide variety of drug screening options. This partnership allows Checkr Health to provide candidates access to over 6,100 clinics across the country that provide both drug and occupational health screenings in a single location.

Some states have specific laws or guidelines regarding drug screenings in relation to employment. For example, most states require a conditional offer of employment to be made before requiring candidates to submit to a drug test. Please work with your legal counsel to ensure that you are meeting these requirements.

Adding screenings to your account

To add drug screenings to your account, contact Checkr Customer Support. It will take approximately 7-10 business days for Checkr to complete the account setup before you can order your first Checkr Health Check.

Which substances do the panels test for? 

When you're first set up, you're authorized for the most common panels: the 5, 9, and 10. We’ve listed the substances each panel tests for below.

If your organization requires a more specific panel, please let us know. 

Screening process

Checkr Health Checks may be run as a standalone screening. Most Checkr Health Checks follow a standard screening workflow: 

1. Customers issue a screening invitation to the candidate, asking them to complete the screening.
2. Candidate completes the Checkr-Hosted Apply Flow, which allows them to select a screening location and receive their screening pass.
3. Candidate contacts the clinic to schedule their appointment and/or verify availability.
4. Candidate completes their appointment before the screening pass expires. 
5. If required, customers may update the clinic location on behalf of their candidate, or send them an updated screening pass from the pending report’s page in the Checkr Dashboard.
6. Once the screening is complete, the clinic submits a sample to the lab. The lab processes the sample and submits results to eScreen where they are reviewed by a certified Medical Review Officer (MRO).
7. Final results are then posted to the Checkr Dashboard to be reviewed by the customer.

Review report results

To view results, open the candidate’s report and click Health Screening. A more detailed screening report can also be viewed by downloading the “Health Screening PDF” from the Report information section of the candidates report.

Results are returned to Checkr as Negative or Positive:

• Negative indicates that the test revealed no evidence of the listed substance
• Positive indicates that the test revealed evidence of one or more of the listed substance(s)

Medical Review Officer (MRO) process for non-DOT drug screenings

All drug testing results are submitted to an eScreen Medical Review Officer (MRO) for review. Any non-negative results (such as  pending results or inconclusive results) require additional follow up with the candidate. The MRO will review the non-negative result with the candidate to determine if they have any prescriptions which would account for evidence of the listed substance and verify that prescription with the pharmacy. 

When MRO follow-up is needed:

• The MRO will make 3 attempts within 1 business day to contact the candidate.
• If the MRO is unable to reach the candidate during this time, results will remain Pending for an additional 72 business hours to allow the candidate to return the call. 
• If the candidate does not respond, the result will be included in the final report as “Positive-UTCD” (Unable To Contact Donor).

For more information see Help me understand MRO reviewed results of a drug screening

Getting help

With so many parties involved in the end-to-end Checkr Health screening process, it may be confusing where to look for help when questions arise. 

Visit Checkr’s Drug and Occupational Health FAQs for answers to common questions. The Checkr Customer Support team can help answer general questions such as finding clinics near the candidate’s location or verifying the status of the report. Keep in mind, drug and occupational health screenings take time and Checkr cannot expedite the report.

Candidates should note that Checkr is not able to change the outcome of a screening. If a candidate would like to dispute the results, they can contact the MRO directly at 888-382-2281, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST.

For more information, visit What if the candidate challenges the results of their drug screening?

Turnaround time

Once the candidate completes their screening appointment, the average turnaround time to receive the result is under 3 days. When MRO follow-up is needed, the average turnaround may extend to 10 days. To prevent delays, work with your candidate to ensure:

• The candidate calls the clinic to verify availability. 
• The candidate downloads their screening pass and brings it to their clinic appointments. A screening pass is required to complete the screening. The clinic cannot help generate lost or misplaced passes. 
• Any MRO follow-up needed is performed promptly.

Note: The turnaround time for paper-based clinics is longer due to the time it takes to mail the paper documents. Once the testing lab has received all of the required documents and specimen(s), turnaround time for testing and results is the same as non-paper-based clinics. For more information refer to Drug screenings using paper-based clinics. 

Candidate experience

Candidates will be asked to schedule and complete the testing process at a location of their choice. Checkr's Occupational Health and Drug Check scheduling flow allows candidates to schedule one test for all required checks and access the candidate screening pass (or “passport”) within the same system.

Note: At this time, candidates may not check their status for a standalone Health Check from the Candidate Portal.

Candidates will receive an invitation to the screening, asking them to:

1. Enter their information, 
2. Consent to the test, and 
3. Select a screening location

After entering their information, they will be presented and asked to acknowledge receipt of applicable forms and notifications, including Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), an Acknowledgement and Authorization for Background Check, and other state and required disclosures as applicable.

Next, they will verify availability with the clinic and/or schedule their test(s) before the listed date at a lab of their choosing.

Candidates must then download and print their screening pass and report to the clinic to submit to their drug test. 

Results are returned as Negative or Positive. 

All drug screening results are submitted to a Medical Review Officer (MRO) for additional review.

If you've applied for a job and are looking for more information on your background check’s status or progress, please log into the Checkr Candidate Portal.

Additional FAQs

Can Checkr expedite a drug screening?

The candidate shared results, can Checkr upload them?

Finding a clinic location