Cost of Drug Testing Increased 192 Times in 8 Years

By Greg Jones, Western Bureau ChiefThe California Workers’ Compensation Institute estimates that carriers and self-insured employers paid $98 million for drug testing in 2011, 192 times the $509,000 paid in 2004.CWCI on Tuesday published research notes on drug-testing cost trends based on a sample of drug tests from calendar years 2004 through 2011 submitted by national and regional workers’ compensation carriers who represent about 42% of all California workers’ compensation premium. CWCI extrapolated the reported numbers to produce estimated system-wide costs that included ...