Any specimen collected by the contracted collection facility deemed presumptively positive by the initial screening procedure will be tested by a second, more precise and highly accurate method.

Any specimen collected by the contracted collection facility deemed presumptively positive by the initial screening procedure will be tested by a second, more precise and highly accurate method.

• A. The MRO immediately reports positive
• B. It is tested by a second, more precise method
• C. The specimen is discarded
• D. It is sent for a third-party review

Answer: (B)

The key idea is confirmatory testing in a drug-screen workflow. When the initial screening flags a specimen as presumptively positive, it doesn’t become a final result until it’s verified by a second, more precise method. This step provides high accuracy and helps prevent false positives from driving decisions. The second test (often a highly specific method like GC-MS or LC-MS/MS) serves as objective verification before any reporting or action. That’s why the correct next step is to perform the confirmatory test. Discarding the specimen or routing it for third-party review aren’t standard parts of this process, and reporting a result without this verification would bypass the essential confirmation.

The key idea is confirmatory testing in a drug-screen workflow. When the initial screening flags a specimen as presumptively positive, it doesn’t become a final result until it’s verified by a second, more precise method. This step provides high accuracy and helps prevent false positives from driving decisions. The second test (often a highly specific method like GC-MS or LC-MS/MS) serves as objective verification before any reporting or action. That’s why the correct next step is to perform the confirmatory test. Discarding the specimen or routing it for third-party review aren’t standard parts of this process, and reporting a result without this verification would bypass the essential confirmation.