This is an email I recently received from a LabCorp employee. If you are familiar with workplace drug test laws and LabCorp drug testing policy, please post a comment with your recommendations. They are appreciated.

“I was recently told that I needed to take a drug test. The following is what happened.

I was called in to do a drug test and K–, my immediate supervisor, handed me a cup and told me to go into the bathroom. So I did. I wasn’t worried, because I hadn’t taken anything. During my Drug Test K– left out of the room leaving someone else there (that was not administering the test) and came back to complete my drug test. There were other drug test sitting on the table that were done before mine. Later, I found out I was suppose to seal the lab bag, but I didn’t, K– did, I guess after I left the room (not sure). I went back to my meeting. It just so happen that E– (the employee K– said she wanted to give my job to) was there on the day of my drug test and several other days, which she was suppose to be on medical leave of absence.

With K– and my history (we do not have a good one), I do not feel as if she was the right person to be giving me a drug test. I don’t know.

Almost three weeks after the drug test, K— told me that she needed a copy of my prescription medication Adderall, she said that Adderall showed up in my drug test. That extra test were run to determine it was Adderall. She also said that copy of the prescriptions was missing from my personnel file. I told her that Adderall could not have showed up in the drug test, because I have not taken any Adderall. I told her that I have been taking Phentermine and asked her if she wanted that prescription. She said “no”. I immediately requested another test. I was never contacted by a Medical Review Officer or “Loss Control” to determine about any medication that I was taking.

I told K– that I would get a copy of the prescription, since she said that would clear me. I went to my office and called Wal-Mart to get them to fax me over a copy. I was in the hall and — asked me again about the prescription in front of another employees (unprofessional behavior?). I told her that Wal-Mart pharmacy had just opened and they said it would take about 30 minutes to get the copy. I decided to go to Wal-Mart and get the list my self. I went to look for K– and she was out side smoking with T– and N–. I told her I needed to go to wal-mart for a minute to pick up something. She said that was fine. I went to Wal-Mart and got a copy of my prescription medication and placed them on Ka–’s desk.

She called me to her office and told me that the copy from the pharmacy would not work and said all I needed to do is to find the original bottle with the original date on it and bring it to her, and I could keep my job, otherwise I would be terminated, she would have to notify the board of nursing, and that I would lose the rest of my vacation and sick pay. She knew I was about to take a week off for Christmas.

The next week, I took the Phentermine bottle to her. She said, ” Is this the bottle.” I told her no, but this is the Phentermine bottle, which should have showed up. She said, “Keep trying to find the bottle.” A few hours later, I brought the original Adderall bottle to K–. She was at lunch, so I left the bottle with Ch–, and asked her to get K– to call me. Ch–, DON called me later and said K– said the bottle will not do because I should have brought the bottle right in and it did not have any medication in the bottle. I told her to tell K–, I did not take the medication. (I had the extra medication from the bottle, but I did not know I needed to give it to K–. They were taken out of the bottle before I took the bottle to K–.)

I have been getting phone calls that, K– has been telling people she fired me for failing a drug test, that I was taking my childrens’ Adderall (K– did not know that my children have not been on Adderal in over 4 months or that I do not take the medication due to a reaction it causes on me.), and that her and HR has already fixed one drug test for me (I thought it was against the law to fix a drug test??). Other employees have also seen my drug test results on the fax machine, she has been making phone calls to other management about me with employees in the office.

I believe they know I am a single parent and have to keep my job, so they could do what they want and I would not quit.

What is the drug testing chain-of-custody?

No one had ever asked me for a list of my medication or if I was taking anything. Was this appropriate for her to have mentioned my test results in front of someone else? HIPAA?

How do I find out if they are DOT regulated? How long does it take to for the results of a urine drug test ?

Why would Adderall be showing up instead of the Phentermine? Would something else be causing the Adderall to show up?

Please help me!! I do not know what to do!! My reputation as a nurse and my children is what really means the most to me. I worked hard all those years and all I care about is that everyone knows I am not the worker they made me out to be.

What can I do???? If anything???

LabCorp is the ones that ran the test!!”

I have received 3 similar emails from 3 different patients, and that’s just in the past 3 days. What does it mean? That Labcorp has a serious billing problem. I experienced a similar situation a few of months ago with LabCorp. It was a bill for services that were provided a few months before that. I am fortunate enough to have a great insurance policy. If I go to the preferred providers, and LabCorp is one of them, I only have to pay a small co-payment. I received a past due notice from LabCorp in what appeared to be a notice from a collection agency. After closer observation it was clear that it was not a collection agency but rather LCA collections, Laboratory Corporation of America Collections. The amount was small but still more than the required co-payment. I wondered why I would receive a past due notice without first getting the original bill? It’s LabCorp, that’s why.

Called their 1-800 billing department number to inquire on how they arrived at the amount they want me to pay. A very nice lady answered and confirmed the amount. I explained that based on my insurance, the amount is incorrect. She continued to explain that what I owe is the amount that the insurance company did not pay. It seemed that she was reading a script as she was unable to answer questions I had regarding the discrepancy between their charges and what the insurance company allows them to charge as a preferred provider. When the script could not be followed, she politely responded with “You need to call your insurance company about that.” I was not getting anywhere with her in regards to resolving this matter so I just stopped and asked “Can you please just tell me how you arrived at the $39? That seemed to stop her for a few seconds of silence. In the same kind voice as before she responded, “That’s what your insurance company told us to bill you.” It was clear she had no clue as to why it was $39 and not $10, and she was making up whatever was not in her script. With that I thanked her and hung up the phone.

Well…back to the email I received from RJ. Read it below.

I just got off the phone from my THIRD call to Lab Corp billing for incorrect billing to my insurance carriers, thereby them sending me the outstanding bill to pay.

EACH TIME I go get blood drawn, the attendant REQUIRES copies of the insurance cards. So I know that they always have the correct cards. EACH time, I receive an incorrect bill. I have even written to them in October with my last check I sent them, and asked to correct the error and issue me a refund. The note was ignored, and no check was returned to me. I have waited to talk to a billing person 20 minutes before I can talk to someone. Then they ” apologize “for human error. I asked how this can be corrected in the future. All I get is an apology.

Today when I called, the lady would not let me talk to a supervisor or give me a name to write to LabCorp. She basically said since she is taking care of my problems that I do not need to talk to anyone at a higher level. All she kept repeating is that it is human error. The waits for lab drawers are getting longer, and I expect an incorrect bill each time I go to get lab drawn. Can I assume therefore, that the lab results are not right either if there is this much inaccuracy every other place in Lab Corp? I am going to fax a copy of this letter to LabCorp, also to an “unknown” named supervisor to see if I can get someone at a higher level to correct these decifiencies.

I wonder if part of the training at LabCorp includes passing the blame to someone else or actually creating a distraction so that the real issues are skirted? Is it part of LabCorp Career training? I say this because I have read posts and emails from existing employees who defend the company and its actions. Here’s the most recent post by an employee:

I also know that this site was set up by a disgruntled former employee who is trying to start his own lab company, so take from that what you will.

These employee posts are aimed at questioning the credibility of this site. As I have posted before, I was simply a patient who had enough and made the mistake of calling the regional manager about the poor treatment and service. Instead of getting a solution or an “I am sorry”, I was insulted and belittled. I do not work for LabCorp or any other lab. I have never worked for them or any other lab. I have no interests in any lab nor do I have plans to open any labs. From this and other posts by current Labcorp employees, as well as the way I was treated by managers, this creation of doubt and passing the blame on non-existing boogie monsters seems to be the modus operandi of career employees in this company. How sad that instead of fixing the problems, employees are sent to this web site by company managers to create excuses and raise doubt about the real problems being raised by patients and honest employees. I guess that evading the problems is easier than fixing them.

I received this complaint that was also submitted to Labcorp through the patient feedback section of their web site. Complaints like this one should be immediately followed up by LabCorp managers. Whether they are followed up or not, now that’s a different story. LabCorp’s regional managers tend to find secondary excuses for the complaints. In other words, they find ways to blame the patient instead of the LabCorp employees who are poorly trained or worst yet, poorly supervised. That seems to be the universal problem in almost all LabCorp regions.

I recommended to Nancy that she contact United Health Care and notify them about the incident with her child. Hopefully that will persuade United Health Care to select better quality lab service providers. Here’s Nancy’s complaint:

I had to take my 11 year son to Labcorp yesterday in Deland Florida and we had a HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. First the tech gave him something to squeeze, tied off one arm, poked and prodded with her finger, untied it, tied off the other arm and did the same. Took the tourniquet off and called in a co-worker to “hold his arm, he wasn’t co-operating.” I said to her, “He’s holding perfecting still, what do you mean he’s not cooperating?” She said “He’s not squeezing hard enough”. She then stuck him with the needle, nothing came into the vacutainer tube, she then proceeded to stick it in DEEPER and wiggle it around……I told her take it out, she had one shot, and by this time he was crying and I hadn’t seen him cry in years….She then says, “Well do you see how thick his arms are for a kid?” “Go take him to the hospital” and as she took the tourniquet and supplies away I saw that it was a glass blood tube that she was having him squeeze…he was afraid he’d break it……I still have to get his blood work done but I’m checking other labs for cost because my United Health care pays for Labcorp only and I’d rather pay out of pocket than go to Labcorp again. I was going to go to another site but after reading all the complaints online it seems they are all as equally unprofessional, rude and inadequately trained.

Here’s the email I sent her:

Nancy:

I posted your incident on the labcorpsucks.com website, and withheld your name. How sad that they would do that to a child. I highly recommend that you contact United Health Care and let them know of how your son was treated. They might even authorize you to go to another lab or have the blood drawn at a doctor’s office. Having unqualified or poorly trained personnel at a lab service center is the fault of management. I have noticed that there are many complaints about management in your region. Please feel free to refer United Health Care supervisors to see how many complaints are posted on labcorpsucks.com. Hopefully that will move them to stop using LabCorp and select a lab services provider that will provide higher quality health care services for their insured. I will also forward your incident to Florida’s AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration). I highly recommend that you call Florida’s AHCA and file a complaint with them as well. Here’s the info on how to file a complaint in Florida:

Consumer Complaint, Publication and Information Call Center

The agency provides a toll-free telephone system for consumers to call in order to file complaints, receive publications, information and referral numbers. This system can be accessed by calling the number below between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. Eastern Time Monday through Friday. Complaints about health care facilities are taken during regular business hours, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time (EST).

(888) 419-3456

For registering your complaints, requesting publications or requesting information, use the following options:

Press Option 1

Available Monday - Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., EST. To file a complaint about a health care facility. The call center can also refer you for information on facilities.

Good luck.

I have been reading some of the comments posted by LabCorp employees in this blog. It’s interesting how many of them blame everyone else but themselves for the poor service that patients get at LabCorp centers. According to the employees posting, the doctor, the insurance company and even the patient themselves are at fault. I would have to agree with them. Everyone else but you is at fault for bad health care.

The doctor, for sending the patient to the LabCorp center in order to get a blood test. The insurance company, for going with the lowest bidder and allowing LabCorp into their network of providers. The patient, for allowing their doctor and insurance company to send them to LabCorp for blood tests. They are all at fault that Labcorp has deteriorated as a service provider. It’s their fault that the test results can’t be trusted. It’s their fault that centers close early and that employees treat the patients with such disrespect.

It’s not the fault of the mid-level manager that strives to make a quick buck so that the upper manager commends them. It’s not the Patient Services supervisor who has not idea of what “real” patient services means. It’s not the service center receptionist who treats patients as though they are doing them a favor by taking their blood. It’s not the laboratory personnel that quickly runs blood tests through the system so that they can meet their daily quota, disregarding the quality standards that insure the accuracy of the tests.

Employees who were sent here to defend the company, my recommendation to you is that you have all your fellow employees look in the mirror to see who is really at fault for bad health care. My recommendation to the doctors, insurance companies and patients that are causing all these problems. Stop sending, paying or going to LabCorp for tests. That should resolve all the problems.

By popular request, I have updated the LabCorp Complaints site so that it is easier to follow the posts and comments, as well as to file you story and complaint.

I thought that United Health Care wore a white hat, but I guess I was wrong and that they only canceled the contract with LabCorp in the South Florida region. Unfortunately it does not look like they canceled their contracts in other parts of the USA. United Health Care will learn, but only after they continue to lose patients and HMO members. Here’s an email I received from another “former” Labcorp patient.

Hi,

I see that you have United Healhcare on your “good guys” list.   I’m not sure if you are aware, but as far as Verizon Business for United Healthcare (40,000+ employees) is concerned, Lab Corp is the only lab we are allowed to go to that is covered.  I am not sure if other companies that use United are allowed to use other labs, but we got a letter in March of ‘08 that they were dropping Quest in favor of LabCorp.

Here is a letter I sent to HR this morning:

I would like to go on record to state my displeasure with Verizon/United Healthcare using LabCorp as the new lab of choice for blood work.   LabCorp is a cheap, cut rate operation staffed by nothing but a mean, discourteous and unprofessional staff.   I have had to use LabCorp three times this year and each time has been an unpleasant experience.  LabCorp establishments are understaffed and both of the doctors that send me there complain that the results take over a week to get, as opposed to 24 hours with Quest Diagnostics.  They state that they often need to call LabCorp to request the results, while patients who use Quest will have a fax with the results delivered the next business day.

Any money that Verizon Business/United Healthcare is saving by switching from Quest to LabCorp is certainly not worth the anguish that it is putting employees and customers through by forcing them to go there instead of Quest.

Thanks for your site.  I Googled “labcorp sucks” and was pleased to find your site!

NAME WITHHELD

I received an email this weekend from another frustrated patient. What a shame that they are violating Federal disclosure laws and laughing about it.

Well, here is my lab corp story:

I am now about 7 months pregnant, but began going to Lab Corp in the beginning for routine blood tests. They were always unfriendly, but I just let it go. The first thing that really bothered me about them was when my husband had to get blood drawn to make sure he was rh negative so that I wouldn’t need a shot to protect me if my baby had a chance of having positive blood. Well when it came time for my doctor to give me the shot (at 28 weeks into my pregnancy) they still had not received the results from his blood work, which was done 3 months earlier. To top that off I had paid for his testing (around $250) because he does not have health insurance. So I ended up getting the shot anyways (in the butt, and obviously uncomfortable enough that I was willing to pay $250 to avoid it). I still think someone should be liable for the money I wasted on a test that couldn’t get the results back in time. 3 months seems sufficient time to me. I am willing to overlook the fact that I had to get an unnecessary shot because lab corp cant figure it out. After all this, I still had to go to lab corp about a week ago for a gestational diabetes test. I had to fast the night before. The morning I went to go get the test, I had an argument with my husband and being as I was 7 months pregnant, I was pretty upset about it. So I went into lab corp and signed in. I had changed my name to my husband’s last name between this visit and my last. Mind you I have been married for 2 years, but I had put off changing my name and with the baby on the way, I figured it was a good time. So when they didn’t have a record of my new name (which was now on my health insurance card), instead of asking they just had me fill out a new patient sheet. Then when I turned that in (I figured if they didn’t ask I might as well just fill it out) I went and sat back down in the crowded waiting room and prepared to be there for an hour while the drink they gave me hit my blood. When I sat down I overheard them talking about how they finally figured out I had been there before, but my name was different. A male staff member said “Oh, she has been here. Her name is different. She must have gotten married.” and then the female staff member said “oh, well she is pregnant so you know how that goes.” and then they started laughing. At my expense. I wanted to go up there and inform them that I had been married for 2 years, was 25 years old, graduated college, and that my personal life was none of their business, but I was so emotional from the whole day I knew I would just start crying. So I sat there. For a whole hour. And they continued to have personal conversations right there where everyone could hear. I just cant believe that people can be that rude. I don’t know if they think being behind the check in window shields them from the patients, but I was about 10 chairs away and could clearly hear them talking about me. Even if I had gotten married because I got pregnant, it is not their business to be talking about at a place of business. I would love to do something about this, as it is still bothering me. Do you have an address where I can send a letter?

Here’s the address to send in your complaint. Don Hardison is the company’s Chief Operating Officer and he seems to be the only one that cares about straightening out the company. Not that he will do anything, but at least he will make you feel like he will. 

Laboratory Corporation of America
Don Hardison, COO
430 South Spring Street
Burlington, NC 27215

This is a recent article about LabCorp and their practices. The United States Food and Drug Administration believes that LabCorp’s testing “…may harm the public health.” Shame on you LabCorp for putting money before patient’s health.

The US Food and Drug Administration is looking more closely at an ovarian cancer test from Laboratory Corporation of America after deciding that the existing data did not support the test’s commercial use.

 

The FDA Office of In Vitro Device Evaluation and Safety has asked Labcorp to discuss with the agency the utility of its OvaSure Yale test, after it learned that the performance characteristics of the test were based on research that is not representative of the intended pool of patients.

 

In a letter to Labcorp dated August 7, OIVD Director Steve Gutman wrote that the scientific community would not view the study as sufficient to establish performance characteristics for high-risk women who may have ovarian cancer.

 

“Based on our review of your promotional materials and the research,” Gutman wrote, “… we believe you are offering a high risk test that has not received adequate clinical validation, and may harm the public health.” Gutman told Labcorp that OIVD would like to talk to the company about offering the test, and any other strategies the company may have for validating the test.

Here’s something really interesting. A few weeks ago LabCorp employees started posting comments on this site in support and defense of the company and employees. Shortly thereafter, www.labcorpsucks.com almost dissappeared from the Google search results. There does not appear to be a reasonable explanation for this to happen, as this site has lots of visits from dissatisfied LabCorp patients and is still highly ranked in Yahoo and MSN. I just saw an article in the Medical Quack Blog that may provide some answers (or at least raise some suspicion). It is about the business relationship between Google and LabCorp. I would not put it past LabCorp executives to ask Google to punish this website, but it is hard for me to believe that Google would actually play along with LabCorp and lower the search value of a website based on their own economic interests.

Last month several Genomics companies received warning letters from the State of California and were told they needed to be licensed.  23andMe, which is an offshoot of Google may have a potential solution on the dilemma of the licensing issue with working with LabCorp,  one of the largest labs in the US. 

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Although 23andMe is keeping mum on which contract laboratory it is using to conduct its DTC genomic testing services, GenomeWeb Daily News has learned that Laboratory Corporation of America is providing the necessary genotyping services for the personal genomics company. “I can confirm that we are doing lab work for 23andMe,” Eric Lindblom, LabCorp’s senior vice president for investor and media relations, told GWDN.

…You can also read more about the National Genetics Institute, a subsidiary of LabCorp. LabCorp already has a pretty large stake invested in the genomics business.

Lindblom also noted that LabCorp is CLIA licensed in California and New York, the two states that recently warned 23andMe, along with several other personal genomics firms, to stop marketing genetic tests directly to consumers. One of the reasons cited by regulators was that the consumer genomics firms were not licensed in these states to provide laboratory services.