Agency to state: Halt parolees’ drug tests

Andy Davis

Department needs certification, it says

LITTLE ROCK — A federal agency has ordered Arkansas to stop testing its 49,000 probationers and parolees for drugs, saying the state’s Department of Community Correction lacks the proper certification.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the tests require certification under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, a law that sets out standards for tests that diagnose illnesses or assess a patient’s health.

The Department of Community Correction, which regularly tests probationers and parolees for drug use, doesn’t have a certificate.

Rhonda Sharp, a spokesman for the Community Correction Department, said the law exempts agencies that perform tests for “forensic purposes,” and the department believes it falls under that exemption.

“What we do is drug testing to determine if a client is in compliance with their probation or parole, which is a lawenforcement function,” Sharp said.

Tony Salters, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said he understands the testing “involves a greater area than just forensic work,” but he couldn’t elaborate.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman told The Associated Press the letter was sent because the Department of Community Correction’s Pine Bluff office, which was inspected June 24, offered both treatment and counseling for those using illegal drugs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued its order in a letter to the Community Correction Department on Friday.

The letter orders the department to stop drug testing by this Friday, warning that anyone who violates the certification requirement could be subject to “imprisonment, fines or both.”

The agency also could obtain a temporary restraining order to prevent further testing, the letter says. The letter directs the department to apply for a certificate or a waiver or to notify the federal agency that it has stopped testing at all of its probation and parole offices.

The Community Correction Department’s attorney, David Eberhard, was preparing a response to the warning letter on Monday and plans to voice the department’s argument to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Sharp said.

If a resolution isn’t reached by Friday, the Board of Correction will likely call a special meeting to decide what action to take, Sharp said.

Using urine samples from probationers and parolees, the department conducts about 700,000 drug tests a year at its offices around the state, Sharp said.

Some of the tests are performed by probation and paroleofficers, using a dipstick. Other tests are conducted using machines, she said.

If the department continues testing after Friday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will notify the Health and Human Services Department Office of Inspector General of the violation, according to the letter. Salters said he didn’t know what action the inspector general could take.

Arkansas, Pages 9, 11 on 07/22/2008

Copyright © 2008, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

All rights reserved.

This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.

Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2008, Associated Press and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing. All rights reserved.