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BRN enforcement staff report vendor transition, testing gap and surge in 'viral' complaints
Summary
Deputy chief Tim Bunger told the Enforcement, Investigations, and Intervention Committee that oral-fluid testing authorized by the board is not yet in the vendor contract, Vault is transitioning to Affinity Health Group, and staff are managing a higher-than-usual complaint volume driven by mass 'viral' submissions.
Deputy Chief Tim Bunger, presenting the enforcement division update, told the committee the board remains part of an NCSBN substance-abuse monitoring study through 2027 and is working to add oral-fluid testing to its vendor contract after the current contract was found not to include that method.
Bunger said the BRN was notified in January 2026 that Vault (formerly part of First Advantage) has been sold and will transition to Affinity Health Group; staff are monitoring the acquisition and expect the change could expand services. "It is sounding promising as Affinity does seem to have a lot to offer that will just kind of expand what Vault will be able to provide to us," he said.
Bunger highlighted operational data the committee received: as of Jan. 20, 2026 the board had received 3,361 complaints and is seeing periodic spikes of "viral" complaints tied to a single incident that generate thousands of individual submissions. "What that is is it's based on one incident but we get 10 15 30 50 hundreds of cases on that same incident," he said, and the division is working with the Department of Consumer Affairs and NCSBN on IT and process fixes to triage mass submissions without delaying other investigations.
The deputy chief also reported that 19% of cases were pending with the Attorney General for more than a year, a figure he said the division would like to reduce toward a 5–8% range, and announced that a probation FAQ document has been posted to the BRN website to help discipline participants understand expectations.
Committee members asked about continuing-education audits and expert consultant pay. Staff said they are exploring allowing CE records to be uploaded directly into the Breeze system to simplify audits and noted current expert-practice consultant rates (RN $75/hr; APRN $125/hr; psychologist $150/hr; physician $175/hr)."Those are there and available," Executive Officer Loretta Melby said, adding the work is supplemental and requires consultants to be current in practice.
The committee did not take formal regulatory action on the enforcement items; the briefing was provided for information and to solicit committee questions. The next steps announced were vendor-contract renewal work to include oral-fluid testing (as appropriate) and ongoing work with DCA and NCSBN on handling mass complaint submissions.
The committee then moved to subsequent agenda items.
