Author: Gwen A. McMillin
Urine drug testing is a common tool for evaluating compliance with long-term, prescribed medications, such as for managing chronic pain, and for assuring abstinence from illegal or non-prescribed medications. This "compliance testing" requires a different approach from the traditional urine drug testing that is common to the workplace, military or among athletes. The approach for compliance testing is not currently standardized. To address this, University of Utah and Associated Regional University Pathologists (ARUP) researchers developed a unique method for urine drug testing that is designed specifically to meet the needs of compliance testing. The approach is called a "hybrid" because it combines several analytical methods, including high-resolution mass spectrometry and immunoassays, that were selected to optimize quality of testing and time to result, as well as to reduce the overall costs of testing.