Topics in Drug Testing from Quest Diagnostics

During each of the last 3 years more than 100,000 people have died from drug overdoses in the United States. During this same time period, there has been a significant increase in patients suffering from mental health conditions. Today in the US, nearly 50 million patients are prescribed medications for mental health conditions, and that number is growing. Many of these medications are scheduled drugs / controlled substances. Drug testing is a critical tool to help monitor medication adherence for patients taking these medications. Drug testing can help in establishing a baseline for patients and help identify medication use or non-use, detect use of illicit substances, and help to prevent potential drug-drug interactions and harmful poly-substance use. Today’s Topics in Drug Testing podcast episode will cover:

• Overview of the status of mental health in the US and mental health medication prescribing
• The role of drug testing in helping to monitor medication adherence for mental health and other controlled medications as well as identify illicit substance use and potential, harmful drug-drug interactions
• Implementing a responsible drug monitoring protocol in your practice, including how to test, who to test, what drugs to test for, and what frequency to test

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >> To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, please visit QuestDrugTesting.com. At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insights to support your clinical decisions.

Drug testing plays a critical role in combating the drug misuse epidemic. There are 2 main methods of clinical drug testing: presumptive testing, which includes rapid point-of-care (POC) devices as well as more sensitive laboratory immunoassays; and definitive testing, which uses highly complex laboratory instruments to identify and quantify prescription medications, illicit substances, and specific parent drugs and their metabolites, often missed by POC testing.

In today’s podcast episode, Quest Drug Monitoring & Toxicology experts will cover:

• Overview of the different types of drug testing
• Limitations of point-of-care drug testing
• Quest best practices for responsible drug testing

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, please visit QuestDrugTesting.com. At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insights to support your clinical decisions.

Today’s episode is with Quest Diagnostics senior medical advisor, Dr Jeff Gudin, and Dr Jack Kain, director and medical science liaison for the Quest Drug Monitoring and Toxicology business.

The podcast will cover:

• Overview of the new Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) blood test from Quest 
• Clinical Utility of PEth blood testing for Alcohol detection 
• Benefits of Peth blood testing vs urine testing with ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulfate (EtS)

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, please visit QuestDrugTesting.com.

At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

Welcome to the Quest Diagnostics “topics in drug testing” podcast. Today’s episode is with Quest Diagnostics senior medical advisor, Dr Jeff Gudin, and Dr Jack Kain, director and medical science liaison for the Quest Drug Monitoring and Toxicology business.

The podcast will cover:

• Summary of the 2022 CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain
• Summary of key findings from the Quest Diagnostics Health Trends report, Drug Misuse in America 2022—A Decade Lost to the Drug Crisis

You may download a PDF of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, please visit QuestDrugTesting.com.

At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

Learning objectives for the podcast include:

• Learn how ketamine is increasingly being used as an anesthetic, analgesic, antidepressant, …and a hallucinogen1
• Gain an understanding of the risks of ketamine use and ways it is misused
• Appreciate the role of drug testing when ketamine is prescribed or suspected

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series or learn more about the comprehensive drug testing offering from Quest Diagnostics, please visit QuestDrugMonitoring.com. There you will find our Drug Monitoring Test Directory, as well as educational resources and insights from our team of toxicology experts. At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

1. Bahr R, Lopez A, Rey JA. Intranasal Esketamine(SpravatoTM) for use in treatment-resistant depression In conjunction with an oral antidepressant.P&T. 2019;44(6):340-375.

Objectives for the podcast include:

• Understand drug metabolism and how prescription and illicit drugs and their metabolites are eliminated from the body
• Learn about drug half-life and windows of detection, and how they are related
• Gain a deeper understanding of specific variables that can impact a drug's window of detection

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series or learn more about the comprehensive drug testing offering from Quest Diagnostics, please visit QuestDrugMonitoring.com. There you will find our Drug Monitoring Test Directory, as well as educational resources and insights from our team of toxicology experts. At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insights to support your clinical decisions.

Objectives for the podcast include:

• Hear results from the recent Quest Diagnostics Health Trends report which combines data from a Harris Poll survey of over 500 primary care physicians, with results of clinical drug laboratory testing performed by Quest Diagnostics across the US
• Gain a deeper understanding of the contributing factors to the significant surge in drug overdose deaths that we have seen in the US
• Learn about barriers health professionals face in their ability to monitor and intervene with their patients at risk for drug misuse

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series or learn more about the comprehensive drug testing offering from Quest Diagnostics, please visit QuestDrugMonitoring.com. There you will find our Drug Monitoring Test Directory, as well as educational resources and insights from our team of toxicology experts. At Quest Diagnostics, we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

Today’s podcast will cover a substance of great concern today, fentanyl. We will  discuss and share information regarding the following:

• Latest trends in the drug misuse epidemic in the US
• What you need to know about fentanyl
• Why you need to consider drug testing for fentanyl (and other illicit substances) and how to  implement drug testing in your practice

The episode will feature Quest Senior Medical Advisor Dr Jeff Gudin and Medical Science Liaison Dr Jack Kain.

You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, or learn more about Quest Diagnostics’ comprehensive drug testing offering, please visit QuestDrugMonitoring.com. There you will find our Drug Monitoring Test Directory, as well as educational resources and insights from our team of toxicology experts. At Quest Diagnostics we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

Today’s podcast will cover the value of prescription and illicit drug testing and provide insight on the different clinical drug testing methodologies. We will discuss and share information regarding the following:

• Current state of the drug misuse epidemic in the US
• The value and clinical utility of drug testing
• Overview of the 2 main methodologies of drug testing, presumptive and definitive

The episode will feature Quest Senior Medical Advisor, Dr Jeff Gudin; Medical Science Liaison Jack Kain, PharmD; and Executive Science Director, Les Edinboro, PhD.

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You may download a PDF version of this presentation here >>

To listen to other podcasts in our Topics in Drug Testing series, or learn more about Quest Diagnostics’ comprehensive drug testing offering, please visit QuestDrugMonitoring.com. There you will find our Drug Monitoring Test Directory, as well as educational resources and insights from our team of toxicology experts. At Quest Diagnostics we are committed to providing you results and insight to support your clinical decisions.

The convergence of the opioid epidemic and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created new healthcare challenges. Health systems, from a system- and individual clinician-level, are more important than ever in the pursuit of addressing the epidemic within the pandemic.

In this session, Dr Gudin discusses with Dr Pat Alagia on the Quest Dialogues podcast:

• Recently-published data by Quest that demonstrates decreased drug testing overall, with increased positivity for high-risk drugs and dangerous drug combinations 
• Tools and practices for clinicians to assess and stratify patients for potential prescription drug abuse
• System-level strategies that employ an integrated care delivery approach, including leveraging community and diagnostics partnerships, to support impacted patient populations

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About Dr Pat Alagia

As an entrepreneurial, innovative, and forward-thinking physician executive,  Dr Alagia has developed extensive experience and deep expertise throughout the healthcare ecosystem through his many years in the health system C-Suite and as a Senior Executive in major medical companies.  He has led large complex academically based regional healthcare systems,  for-profit and not-for-profit healthcare organizations, venture capital-backed healthcare companies, and small and large clinical practices.

Today as the Chief Clinical Officer for Hospitals and Health Systems and as a Senior Medical Director for core and advanced at Quest Diagnostics, Dr Alagia and his clinical, scientific, academic, and commercial colleagues focus on a variety of topics involving diagnostic testing and patient care across the care continuum. He and his team are passionately committed to patient care, clinical and scientific excellence, and building interdisciplinary collegial relationships.