How to Select a Pre-Placement Contractor

OHP has provided a Table of Pre-Placement Contractors with information on contractor location, hours of operation, Saturday testing, contact information, Physician Certification Rating, exam availability, and average cost for each exam. Please use this information to select the contractor that best meets the needs of your department and the applicant. The following information will assist you in using the Table of Pre-Placement Contractors.

Saturday Testing:  Several clinics offer pre-placement exams on Saturdays. This is often highly desirable to applicants who are currently employed. We encourage you to take advantage of this service.

Processing Delays: When choosing a contractor, we encourage you to consider how often applicant processing is delayed due to contractor error. The most recent  data on the percent of General and Safety applicants who are delayed is presented in the Table.  A notation of "No Data" means that not enough applicants were recently sent to the clinic to generate meaningful statistics. "Not Applicable" means that this clinic does not perform this exam type.

Exam Availability: Several of clinics were not awarded contracts to perform certain pre-placement exams. Examples of common reasons for non-award would be non-competitive pricing, or the absence of required equipment. If a clinic was not approved to provide a particular exam, this is indicated in the Table with the notation "Not Available" in place of an Average Cost estimate for the exam.

Item Number Missing: If the applicant's item number and job title is not listed in the Table, this means that we have not yet developed a medical testing protocol for this classification. If you currently need (or will need in the near future) an exam for an item number missing from the Table, please e-mail Steve NyBlom  (SNyblom@ceo.lacounty.gov).

Off-line Status: In unusual situations, a clinic may have to go "off-line" due to temporary staffing or equipment problems. Clinics are required to meet very stringent minimum staffing and equipment requirements at all times. If this should occur, the notation "off-line" will appear in place of an Average Cost estimate for the exam.
           
Average Cost: Under our new contracts, the examining physician is authorized to perform an individualized assessment of the applicant. This means that the physician may order additional tests based on the applicant's medical history, clinical test results, or physical examination findings. For example, applicants for a particular job may not routinely be given a spirogram (breathing test). However, the physician may order one if there is a history of asthma, and asthma is of concern for the applicant's job placement.  Since the tests performed for a given applicant can vary, the charge-back costs to the hiring Department will also vary for a given Item Code. The Average Cost information presented in the Table of Pre-Placement Contractors represents our best estimate of the average cost for the examination for each job title. The amount that your Department will be charged may be more or less than the average price shown.

IMPORTANT NOTE: All of the information in the Table of Pre-Placement Contractors is subject to frequent revision. Therefore, the Table should not be downloaded, but rather reviewed on-line whenever needed.

Revised December 27, 2007