Drug Testing Tools for Medi-Cal Members
DENVER, Aug. 14, 2018 – Cordant Health Solutions™, which provides innovative tools for monitoring and managing behavioral health and chronic pain patients through its unique pharmacy and drug testing program, announced today that it is now contracted with Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program.
Clinicians can now order any of Cordant’s testing services for Medi-Cal members if necessary, including its unique Cordant CORE™ drug testing method, which is a saliva test that provides insight to clinicians when monitoring whether patients are taking their medications as prescribed.
“We’re proud to work with Medi-Cal to provide advanced, accurate and effective tools in drug testing,” said Susan Sommer, president and CEO of Cordant. “Our goal is to provide easy access to the information clinicians need to determine the treatment plan that would be most effective for each individual patient.”
Cordant’s drug testing services include urine, saliva, hair and blood. Using different options allows physicians, case workers and addiction treatment specialists the ability to evaluate patient drug levels over different time frames in reference to prescribed medications as well as detect the presence of illicit substances. This kind of holistic picture of patient behavior is essential to effective and informed healthcare, treatment and prescribing decisions.
Cordant is one of only a few companies to offer a low cutoff-level buprenorphine saliva test, which can detect buprenorphine in saliva at very low concentrations. Observed collections using saliva is easy and non-invasive and reduces the risk of substitution or adulteration associated with urine testing in high risk populations and a lower buprenorphine cutoff level results in fewer false negatives than industry standard cutoffs. Cordant’s saliva testing is ideal for patients undergoing medication assisted treatment for substance use disorder.
“Research in the American Journal of Addictions shows that patients who are not adherent with their medication are ten times more likely to relapse into illicit and risky behavior,” said Sommer. “Increasing the accuracy and the testing options gives clinicians greater confidence in their test results and helps them create open and productive patient dialogue. In addition, identifying patients likely to be at higher risk of not adhering to their treatment plans means better care.”