A Drug Testing Company Favored Speed Over Reliability, Some Ex-Employees Say. The Firm Says Its Work Is “Accurate.”
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
In 2020, a foster care supervisor in Montcalm County, Michigan, messaged her boss with concerns about drug testing. A father who was working to reunite with his children had tested positive for methamphetamine with the lab the state had a contract with, Averhealth, and the results contradicted tests ordered by other law enforcement agencies, she wrote.
“Judge indicated on the record that the issue of Averhealth’s testing results was a state-wide issue and that probate court judges all over the state were having similar problems.”
Months later, another official with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services wrote to colleagues about similar worries. “We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” supervisor Sara Winter wrote. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from.”
The cause of the discrepancies was unknown. But that year, 2021, Averhealth’s accreditor faulted its practices and placed the lab on a six-month probation, citing, among other issues, data manipulation and failed proficiency tests, which are done to ensure test accuracy.
When state officials caught wind of the investigation and repeatedly inquired about it, they hit a wall. The College of American Pathologists’ Forensic Drug Testing Accreditation Program told them that “findings of the investigation are kept confidential.” They asked Averhealth’s then-CEO Jason Herzog for all available reports on the lab. He was out of the office, he said, and promised to “track down when I have a good internet connection.”
Averhealth didn’t disclose that it had been placed on probation — its contract didn’t require such notification. And more than a year would pass before Michigan officials got a full picture of what accreditors observed at one of the nation’s largest drug-testing operations for child welfare, custody and probation cases.
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the messages its staff sent regarding Averhealth.
A ProPublica investigation found that Averhealth’s lab practices have not only been faulted by its own accreditor but also targeted in lawsuits, and prompted Michigan’s child welfare agency to order its employees not to use Averhealth’s tests as evidence in court and to withdraw any petitions based solely on the lab’s results.
Six former employees told ProPublica that the company’s central lab facility in St. Louis was mismanaged. The former employees, who include two chemists and two lab managers, complained variously of understaffing, broken and poorly maintained instruments, and pressure from management to speed up the delivery of test results, even when some feared they were compromising accuracy.
In statements and interviews, the company defended its practices and denied that leadership mismanaged its laboratory. “Averhealth provides accurate and forensically defensible test results,” company CEO Dominique Delagnes said in a statement. “The integrity of the data and information that we provide is of the highest importance to us.” Averhealth’s goal, she said, is to “reclaim …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
In 2020, a foster care supervisor in Montcalm County, Michigan, messaged her boss with concerns about drug testing. A father who was working to reunite with his children had tested positive for methamphetamine with the lab the state had a contract with, Averhealth, and the results contradicted tests ordered by other law enforcement agencies, she wrote.
“Judge indicated on the record that the issue of Averhealth’s testing results was a state-wide issue and that probate court judges all over the state were having similar problems.”
Months later, another official with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services wrote to colleagues about similar worries. “We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” supervisor Sara Winter wrote. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from.”
The cause of the discrepancies was unknown. But that year, 2021, Averhealth’s accreditor faulted its practices and placed the lab on a six-month probation, citing, among other issues, data manipulation and failed proficiency tests, which are done to ensure test accuracy.
When state officials caught wind of the investigation and repeatedly inquired about it, they hit a wall. The College of American Pathologists’ Forensic Drug Testing Accreditation Program told them that “findings of the investigation are kept confidential.” They asked Averhealth’s then-CEO Jason Herzog for all available reports on the lab. He was out of the office, he said, and promised to “track down when I have a good internet connection.”
Averhealth didn’t disclose that it had been placed on probation — its contract didn’t require such notification. And more than a year would pass before Michigan officials got a full picture of what accreditors observed at one of the nation’s largest drug-testing operations for child welfare, custody and probation cases.
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the messages its staff sent regarding Averhealth.
A ProPublica investigation found that Averhealth’s lab practices have not only been faulted by its own accreditor but also targeted in lawsuits, and prompted Michigan’s child welfare agency to order its employees not to use Averhealth’s tests as evidence in court and to withdraw any petitions based solely on the lab’s results.
Six former employees told ProPublica that the company’s central lab facility in St. Louis was mismanaged. The former employees, who include two chemists and two lab managers, complained variously of understaffing, broken and poorly maintained instruments, and pressure from management to speed up the delivery of test results, even when some feared they were compromising accuracy.
In statements and interviews, the company defended its practices and denied that leadership mismanaged its laboratory. “Averhealth provides accurate and forensically defensible test results,” company CEO Dominique Delagnes said in a statement. “The integrity of the data and information that we provide is of the highest importance to us.” Averhealth’s goal, she said, is to “reclaim …
A Drug Testing Company Favored Speed Over Reliability, Some Ex-Employees Say. The Firm Says Its Work Is “Accurate.”
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
In 2020, a foster care supervisor in Montcalm County, Michigan, messaged her boss with concerns about drug testing. A father who was working to reunite with his children had tested positive for methamphetamine with the lab the state had a contract with, Averhealth, and the results contradicted tests ordered by other law enforcement agencies, she wrote.
“Judge indicated on the record that the issue of Averhealth’s testing results was a state-wide issue and that probate court judges all over the state were having similar problems.”
Months later, another official with Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services wrote to colleagues about similar worries. “We are struggling to do casework with Averhealth and don’t trust them,” supervisor Sara Winter wrote. “We are making BIG decisions, including having parents leave home or removal, and that’s scary to do when you don’t trust who you’re getting services from.”
The cause of the discrepancies was unknown. But that year, 2021, Averhealth’s accreditor faulted its practices and placed the lab on a six-month probation, citing, among other issues, data manipulation and failed proficiency tests, which are done to ensure test accuracy.
When state officials caught wind of the investigation and repeatedly inquired about it, they hit a wall. The College of American Pathologists’ Forensic Drug Testing Accreditation Program told them that “findings of the investigation are kept confidential.” They asked Averhealth’s then-CEO Jason Herzog for all available reports on the lab. He was out of the office, he said, and promised to “track down when I have a good internet connection.”
Averhealth didn’t disclose that it had been placed on probation — its contract didn’t require such notification. And more than a year would pass before Michigan officials got a full picture of what accreditors observed at one of the nation’s largest drug-testing operations for child welfare, custody and probation cases.
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the messages its staff sent regarding Averhealth.
A ProPublica investigation found that Averhealth’s lab practices have not only been faulted by its own accreditor but also targeted in lawsuits, and prompted Michigan’s child welfare agency to order its employees not to use Averhealth’s tests as evidence in court and to withdraw any petitions based solely on the lab’s results.
Six former employees told ProPublica that the company’s central lab facility in St. Louis was mismanaged. The former employees, who include two chemists and two lab managers, complained variously of understaffing, broken and poorly maintained instruments, and pressure from management to speed up the delivery of test results, even when some feared they were compromising accuracy.
In statements and interviews, the company defended its practices and denied that leadership mismanaged its laboratory. “Averhealth provides accurate and forensically defensible test results,” company CEO Dominique Delagnes said in a statement. “The integrity of the data and information that we provide is of the highest importance to us.” Averhealth’s goal, she said, is to “reclaim …
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