Affinity Testing Process

TIMFY · Apr 11

Most labs have normal 8-5 hours but you can usually pay more and go to an urgent care!

NurseJackie69 · Apr 11

TIMFY said:

Most labs have normal 8-5 hours but you can usually pay more and go to an urgent care!

IF...IF...you are near a decent sizes town/city, you can usually find the late place, but many of these still stop seeing people by 7pm, and in small towns, there are usually NOT places around that run past you walking in the door at 5pm. Recovery Trek, and I would guess Affinity does also, has testing site locations that are approved by Affinity. Go to Affinity and Look at the website and search testing locations. Also, Google where you are located for "drug testing centers."

Be Super Careful if you find the urgent care center that says on its website that "they do drug testing" and simply ASSume that they do drug testing at All hours. Call them first before you work and get off at 715pm and you arrive at 7:30pm and you are told that they only do drug testing from 7am to 7pm. There ARE places like this and you can easily get fooled. Find out ALL testing locations and know the hours they do testing. Because it's an urgent care center doesn't automatically mean they do drug testing 24-7. Many stop doing testing at a certain time. You want to know that WEEKS or DAYS before you walk into test.

If you are not near a decent size city or town with 40,000 or 50,000 people or more, I can warn you now, finding a place that tests after 5 might be tough. If you are doing 7a to 7p, try to make an arrangement with your work where you can simply take a longer lunch break and test over lunch and offer them something back at work, for example, "if you let me take 45 to 1 hr lunch when I'm selected, I will not tske a morning or afternoon break."

Smit5292, BSN · Apr 11

Thank you for the info!!

Healer555 · Apr 12

Every state is different. We have to use their approved sites. They have different hours. Some are 8 til 5 or 9 til 6. There is a 24 hour site. Make sure the facility is approved.

Smit5292, BSN · Apr 12

Healer555 thank you!!

NurseJackie69 · Apr 13

The drug testing site that your monitoring program contractor approves is who approves the testing sites, not the BON. The BON has nothing to do with where you test and in a way, neither does your monitoring case manager. If your monitoring programs contractor is Affinity, you test at an Affinity approved site. If your monitoring contractor is Recovery Trek, you test at a Recovery Trek approved site. These are searchable once you get access to your Recovery Trek or Affinity website which is where you also check in daily.

I think Georgia uses Affinity and Florida uses Recov Trek, but not for sure. Most states use Affinity or Recovery Trek but some use others. Keep this mind, because one poster stated she has a 24 site does NOT automatically mean that YOU have a 24 hour site close to you. It depends on where you live and how far you are willing to drive and what is approved by Affinity. If you live in Atlanta metro, then you can bet there will be a 24 hour site, but if you live in for example, Brunswick, GA, you better plan to drive to Jacksonsville, FL, because the odds are, Brunswick will not have a 24 hour site. Same thing if you live in the Georgia mountains in the Northwestern part of the state or in central rural Georgia. Odds are, they aren't going to have a 24 hour site.

PaddedCellLPN, LPN · Apr 15

I go during lunch. My manager is super cool and covers my patients. I'm in GA, and my program will tell you work isn't an excuse to miss a test. Make sure your manager knows when you've got to test, you've got to test. Sometimes, I'm in and out in 20 minutes, but the longest time I've had to wait is 3 hours for my hair follicle... and my manager covered my patients both times.

Sky1217, LPN · Apr 17

My understanding is that you can provide your monitoring program and the BON your work schedule. They should be able to avoid "randomly" select you on the days you work. I was told that this "random" test are "schedule in advance". Meaning that they (The BON-Monitoring Agency) knows in advance when are you getting tested. You are the one that doesn't know. It's like they create a calendar in advance with the dates and the different type of test you will be doing for the year. It's "random" for you, not them. I hope this helps! Give them a call. If you keep an open communication with them you should be fine.

Sky1217, LPN · Apr 17

My understanding is that you can provide your monitoring program and the BON your work schedule. They should be able to avoid "randomly" select you on the days you work. I was told that this "random" test are "schedule in advance". Meaning that they (The BON-Monitoring Agency) knows in advance when are you getting tested. You are the one that doesn't know. It's like they create a calendar in advance with the dates and the different type of test you will be doing for the year. It's "random" for you, not them. I hope this helps! Give them a call. If you keep an open communication with them you should be fine.

Edited to add: I am not sure of every state rules. But where I live (PA) my monitoring program (Recovery Trek) offers a home kit test. It's called "PROOF". I believe Affinity has something similar as well. I use Recovery Trek for my testing check-ins and Affinity for the rest (NA Meeting check-ins, program fee payments, and reports). You can use these "Home Kits" for special circumstances like being selected on a working day or being out of state for emergencies or things of that nature.

NurseJackie69 · Apr 17

Proof testing is no longer a thing in MOST states. Yes, some states still have it, but most no longer allow it since the Covid Crisis resolved. My state stopped it 2 and half years ago. The states that arr more likely to still have Proof Testing are states in the Northeast and on the west coast. The Proof testing and at home testing became a thing largely due to the Covid Crisis. Very, very few states are still allowing the home testing stuff now. I wish all states still allowed it.