Urine toxicology testing is an important standard of care in the pain management setting. When used appropriately, urine toxicology testing can be an important clinical tool in patient care. The types of clinical situations in which clinical drug testing can be used include pain management with opioid medications, office-based opioid treatment, orthopedics, pain management, primary care, psychiatry, and other situations when healthcare providers need to determine substance use in patients. Testing is also used to monitor patients’ prescribed medications with abuse potential to ensure compliance as well as assist the healthcare professional in determining the next course of treatment to best help the patient be well. Other benefits of urine toxicology testing include:
- Increase the safety of prescribing medications by identifying the potential for overdose or serious drug interactions.
- Prevents potentially dangerous medication interactions
- Aids in screening, assessing, and diagnosing a potential substance abuse disorder (SUD)
- Verifies, contradicts, or adds to a patient’s self-report or family member’s report of substance use.
- Identifies a relapse to substance use
In addition to the many clinical benefits to the practice is the fact that urine toxicology testing is reimbursable and can provide important revenue generation while practicing standard of care medicine. Ask us how we can help your practice develop this important standard of care testing protocol to protect and generate ancillary revenue for your practice today.