Quest Diagnostics had been preparing for 2020 for two years. As one of the top medical-testing providers in the nation, it first launched its consumer-initiated testing program, QuestDirect, at the end of 2018. Through it, consumers can visit the company's website and order at-home testing kits for 49 different conditions.
Nearly six years after launching a joint venture with IQVIA’s contract research progenitor, Quintiles, Quest Diagnostics is handing over the remainder of its minority share in return for $760 million in cash.
Quest Diagnostics is offering $0 out-of-pocket testing. Drive-thru testing is available Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. Partnering with Walmart locations, appointments can be made through Quest Diagnostics’ online portal.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected diagnostic testing much like it did other parts of the healthcare delivery system — it demanded completely novel approaches at some points, and merely accelerated trends underway at others. In other words, an evolution became a revolution. That revolution, according to Quest Diagnostics Chief Medical Officer Jay Wohlgemuth, MD, can be categorized by just a few words, most notably “convenience.”
Quest Diagnostics recently signed a non-exclusive license agreement with Zora Biosciences Oy, a renowned clinical diagnostics company working to identify robust markers of disease. The agreement is expected to enable Quest Diagnostics in the development of a test service based on Zora's patented ceramide-analysis technology.
With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating interest in telehealth and consumer-initiated testing, Quest Diagnostics is expanding its existing DTC operation to try to capture $250 million of the emerging market.
Quest Diagnostics' purchase of some lab operations of a St. Louis-based hospital system will bring a positive result for Lenexa. Quest announced this week that it will acquire the outreach laboratory services business of Mercy.
Commercial laboratory Quest Diagnostics Inc. sees a growing direct-to-consumer testing opportunity following the Covid-19 pandemic, as patients seek greater control of their health care and the crisis accelerates a shift to digital technologies.
With the acquisition, Quest will pick up the business from 29 Mercy hospital labs and two independent clinic labs servicing patients and providers throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Quest Diagnostics and 98point6 have teamed up to make it easier for patients to connect with a doctor virtually about lab results.