Further Delay For Proposed Dhhs Guidelines Revisions On Alternative Specimens

On June 30, 2006 Revisions to the DHHS Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs were withdrawn from the Office of Management and Budget review process. The Proposed Revisions to the Guidelines were published 4/13/04 and SAMHSA's Final Notice for Revisions has been at OMB for review since April 2006. The impact of this action is that the Final Notice of Revisions to the DHHS Guidelines concerning alternative specimens for Federal workplace drug testing programs will be delayed.

In general, the OMB review process takes about 90 days. Thus, with the withdrawal of the Final Notice of Revisions to the DHHS Guidelines, the SAMHSA Division of Workplace Programs will now rework the document for resubmission to OMB for review. There is no indication that SAMHSA intends to publish in the Federal Register another Notice of Proposed Revisions to the DHHS Guidelines at this time. In a best case scenario, a Final Notice revising the HHS Guidelines to incorporate alternative specimens will not be issued before November 2006.