If a doctor does an in-house drug screen do they also send it off for further results?

It depends. I have been to several pain doctors, and they all have their different opinions. One doctor NEVER took drug screenings. He was closed down by the DEA.

One doctor didn't like the immediate results, and sent it off to a lab to confirm the results. She was correct. The urine testing cup had come out too high, and I swore that I wasn't taking that drug, and sure enough, when I went back and the results were in, I was right. The testing cup was off. They are not 100% reliable.

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Another pain doctor would only send off the urine testing cup once a year, and then after a year told all his clients that the DEA required the test to be sent off each time you got a refill ie... once a month. I didn't realize that wasn't true until I went to the new pain doctor who told me that she would only test my urine once or twice a year!! I realize now, that I had trusted my instincts to leave the other doctor. He was either mentally ill, or looking for more money by charging for two tests instead of one.

So the answer is, the DEA does NOT require a urine test to be sent off with every prescription, nor do you have to take a drug screen each time you go to the doctor. I would suspect that the more the doctor trusts you, the less times you have to either have it sent off or even take the drug screening.