HHS Refreshes List of Approved Federal Drug Testing Labs
Published Date: 12/1/2025
Notice
Summary
The Department of Health and Human Services just updated the list of labs and testing sites approved to do urine and oral fluid drug tests for federal workers. If a lab loses its certification, it’s dropped from the list until it’s fixed. This keeps drug testing fair and reliable for all federal agencies, with updates posted every month online.
Analyzed Economic Effects
6 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Monthly HHS certified lab list
HHS publishes an updated list of laboratories and Instrumented Initial Testing Facilities (IITFs) certified for federal urine and oral fluid workplace drug testing every month, with the list available online at the SAMHSA certified lab list webpage. If a lab’s certification is suspended or revoked it is omitted from subsequent monthly lists until restored.
No HHS-certified oral fluid labs
As of December 1, 2025, HHS states there are no laboratories certified to conduct drug and specimen validity tests on oral fluid specimens. Federal agencies therefore currently have no HHS-certified oral fluid labs listed for use.
IITFs cannot perform oral fluid testing
HHS explicitly states that IITFs are not allowed to conduct oral fluid testing under the Mandatory Guidelines. That means oral fluid testing (where used) must be done by HHS-certified laboratories, not IITFs.
Some certified labs limited to VA or DoD employees
The notice lists specific certified urine-testing laboratories that are limited to particular employee groups: the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center Forensic Toxicology Laboratory is for Veterans Affairs (VA) employees only, and the US Army Forensic Toxicology Drug Testing Laboratory is for Department of Defense (DoD) employees only. These facilities are not listed for general federal employee use.
Suspended or withdrawn labs are removed
If a laboratory or IITF certification is suspended or revoked, HHS will omit that facility from subsequent monthly lists until it is restored to full certification. If a laboratory or IITF has withdrawn from the HHS National Laboratory Certification Program during the past month, it will be listed at the end and then omitted from future monthly listings.
DOT rule limits IITF use for DOT specimens
The notice notes that Dynacare (an IITF) carries the annotation: "DOT does not allow IITFs to test DOT-regulated specimens." That means DOT-regulated drug tests cannot be processed by IITFs like Dynacare even if they are HHS-certified for other federal testing.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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