How long drug test results take depends on which result you mean. A rapid urine screen is read in minutes, where the specimen is collected. Laboratory confirmation takes days, because the sealed specimen has to travel to a laboratory and be tested by a different method. With Testr, the 14-panel rapid screen is read at your door, and you have that result before the collector leaves. When laboratory confirmation is ordered, the laboratory report follows in about 72 hours. Below: what sets each clock, how long you have to add the laboratory, where each result arrives, and how soon a visit can start.
Two results, two clocks
Look up drug test turnaround and the answers vary widely. Three things shape the answer: whether the result is a rapid screen or a laboratory test, whether a screen goes on to confirmation, and what kind of specimen was collected. Hair, saliva and blood tests each follow their own process. Testr tests urine only, so this page is about urine.
A Testr visit can produce two results from one specimen:
The rapid read. A 14-panel urine screen, read on site in minutes. It comes with every visit.
The laboratory report. Confirmation by LC-MS/MS at a CAP-accredited laboratory, in about 72 hours. It comes with the Rapid Test with Laboratory Confirmation, or with an upgrade made in the app within 2 hours of collection.
The rapid read: minutes, before the collector leaves
A certified collector collects the urine specimen at your home or workplace, checks its temperature at collection, and reads it on a 14-panel cassette. Each panel is a strip that reacts to one drug class. A panel reads presumptive positive at or above its screening cutoff; otherwise it reads negative. Three more strips (pH, oxidants and creatinine) check the specimen itself rather than any drug.
The collector does not interpret the result. Each panel is reported exactly as read, the specimen is sealed under a chain-of-custody code, and the rapid result is released to your account before the collector leaves.
What the rapid read gives you is a class and a yes-or-no for each of the 14 panels. A negative means the panel read below its cutoff at the time of collection. A presumptive positive is a reason to confirm, not a conclusion, and the read does not name the specific compound or give a measured level. The difference between negative, presumptive positive and laboratory-confirmed is laid out in how to read a Testr drug test result, and the codes printed on the cassette are decoded on the abbreviations page.
Laboratory confirmation: about 72 hours
With laboratory confirmation, the sealed specimen travels under chain of custody to a CAP-accredited laboratory. The laboratory does not use a strip. It uses LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry), which identifies the specific compound and reports a measured level for it. Its confirmation menu covers 81 substances, including many that no rapid panel screens for, and what LC-MS/MS actually confirms walks through several of them.
That work is why the laboratory result takes days rather than minutes. The report comes back in about 72 hours from collection.
Every laboratory report goes to a Medical Review Officer (MRO), a physician who reviews laboratory-confirmed results and accounts for valid prescriptions before the report is released. No screen can tell a prescribed drug from an unprescribed one. What can cause a false positive, panel by panel lists the medications known to react with particular strips.
The 2-hour upgrade window
If you booked the At-Home Rapid Test, you do not have to decide on the laboratory before you see the rapid read. You can add laboratory confirmation in the Testr app within 2 hours of collection. The upgrade is made by the account holder in the app, and it does not depend on the collector still being there.
The 2 hours is not a scheduling rule. It is the period during which the sealed specimen is still viable for confirmation, so the specimen the laboratory tests is the same one that was read at your door. When the laboratory report comes in, it appears alongside the rapid read under the same custody code.
Once the window closes, the only route to a laboratory result is a new collection, and any result from it reflects that later time, not the original specimen. If you already know a decision depends on a laboratory result, booking the Rapid Test with Laboratory Confirmation from the start takes the clock out of it. The 2-hour upgrade window covers when each choice makes sense.
Where each result arrives
Results are released privately to the account holder: the account that booked the visit. That may be the person tested, or a parent, clinician or employer who booked for someone else. When the person tested is another adult, the result is released to the account holder only if that adult signs an authorization at the visit naming them. When the person tested is a minor, a parent or legal guardian is present for the whole visit and signs consent. See Testr for parents and Testr for professionals.
In the Testr app. Every panel, the custody code, the signatures and the sealed-specimen photos, with the laboratory report alongside when there is one.
At testrla.com/account. The panel-by-panel read on the web, with the laboratory report alongside when there is one, and a PDF you can download whenever you choose.
To a named third party. With the account holder's written consent, the laboratory report can also be released directly to a third party you name, such as an attorney or a clinician.
Beyond that, Testr releases results to no one else unless the account holder authorizes it in writing or the law requires it, and an adult who was tested can ask Testr for a copy of their own result. If a result is meant for a court, ask your attorney or the court what they accept. What a workplace policy requires is a question for employment counsel.
How soon the visit can start
The clock on a result starts at collection, so the other half of "how long" is how soon a collector can be there. A certified collector can be at your door in as little as 3 hours. The earliest 30-minute window is 3 hours after you book, and windows run from 7 AM to 7 PM, seven days a week, so a visit booked by 4 PM can still happen the same day when a window is open. Book later and the earliest window is the next morning from 7 AM. The arrival window is a good-faith estimate, not a guarantee.
Testr comes to a home or workplace within 20 miles of Century City. Visits are non-DOT and urine only. The same-day drug test page has the full timing, and what happens at a mobile drug test visit walks through the visit step by step.
Questions people ask
How long do drug test results take?
A rapid urine screen is read in minutes. On a Testr visit, you have the 14-panel rapid result before the collector leaves. Laboratory confirmation, when ordered, takes about 72 hours from collection.
Can I get drug test results the same day?
Yes, for the rapid read, which is released to your account at the visit. The visit itself can be same-day when a window is open: the earliest window is 3 hours after you book, between 7 AM and 7 PM, seven days a week.
How long does a laboratory drug test take?
With Testr, about 72 hours from collection. The laboratory confirms by LC-MS/MS and reports a measured level for each substance, and every laboratory report is reviewed by a Medical Review Officer (MRO), a physician who reviews laboratory-confirmed results and accounts for valid prescriptions before the report is released.
Why does the laboratory take longer than the rapid test?
The rapid cassette is read on site: each panel reads presumptive positive at or above its cutoff, or negative. The laboratory receives the sealed specimen under chain of custody and identifies the specific compound with a measured level, which takes days rather than minutes.
Can I add laboratory confirmation after seeing the rapid result?
Yes, in the app, within 2 hours of collection. After that the specimen is no longer viable for confirmation, and a new collection would be needed.
Can the result go straight to my attorney or employer?
With the account holder's written consent, the laboratory report can be released directly to a named third party, such as an attorney, an employer or a clinician. Otherwise Testr releases results only to the account holder and, on request, to an adult who was tested, unless the law requires a release. The account holder can download a PDF at testrla.com/account.
How long do pre-employment drug test results take?
It depends on the provider and on whether the employer asks for laboratory confirmation. A Testr visit gives the rapid read before the collector leaves, and a laboratory report in about 72 hours when ordered. Testr is non-DOT only, and what a hiring policy requires is a question for employment counsel.
To have all 14 panels read at your door, choose a 30-minute window between 7 AM and 7 PM, seven days a week, in the Testr iOS app or at testrla.com/book. The earliest window can start in as little as 3 hours. Book a visit.