Flap Over Drug-Testing Bills Points to Emerging Cost Driver

By Greg Jones, Western Bureau ChiefThe former medical director of a Southern California drug-testing firm is warning insurers that the company is overcharging them, but the company says it paid the doctor $1 million to make sure it was playing by the rules.The dispute between Dr. Gerald L. Pearlman and Rx Cost Containment and Accatur Diagnostics in Pasadena comes at a time when insurers and employers are taking a close look at the growing cost of drug tests in workers' compensation systems and other health programs. So far, no official authority has weighed in on Pearlman's allegations...