Media Coverage

More Americans are showing up for work high or with marijuana in their system, according to a new analysis released Thursday by Quest Diagnostics. Roughly 4.4 percent of more than 10 million workplace drug tests in 2018 showed positive results, marking a 14-year high, Quest said. It represents an increase from 4.2 percent in 2017 and is the highest since 2004, when the provider of diagnostic information services found 4.5 percent of workplace samples tested positive for drugs.

University of Connecticut students who get lab work done at Student Health Services (SHS) can now access the results of that work through their health portal, located at myhealth.uconn.edu. Once students log into their account on the my health portal, they should click on “My Profile,” then click on “Lab History” from the dropdown menu.Lori Masters, director of clinical data analytics and health information management at Student Health and Wellness, said the lab work students get done at SHS is sent to Quest Diagnostics, and after Quest runs tests and gives the results to SHS, the results are available in the health portal within one or two days.

Joey Hale and Ben Ricks were cutting pipe from a scaffold in an elevator shaft last June. Their job was to help turn the hulk of the Old Shoe Co. in St. Louis into a high-end hotel. The cable snapped, and they fell six floors to their death. Neither was wearing a safety harness. They weren't alone. Elevator accidents have more than doubled in recent years, as both older, less-agile workers and younger ones with little or no training are working longer hours in dangerous construction and transportation jobs. There's also a shortage of healthy workers. Many companies have lowered standards to accept people who have failed or barely passed drug tests, according to Quest Diagnostics. Workplace overdoses due to alcohol and drugs have increased by 25 percent for five consecutive years ending 2017, the latest year records are available. The worst states are in the Midwest, according to US Drug Test Centers.

Drug tests are frequently part of an employer’s drug-free workplace program and may require both prospective and current employees, known as donors, to provide a drug test specimen. With urine being the most widely used specimen type, a donor will often visit a collection site and complete a urine drug test collection. The process is typically seamless and straightforward. However, there may be scenarios where witnessing the collection of the specimen is necessary, for example, when a donor takes part in well-choreographed and intentional efforts to undermine, or cheat, the drug test collection process.

Having over the last two decades established themselves in the vaccination space, pharmacies are now moving into point-of-care testing. The spread of POC testing technology along with changes in state regulations and pharmacist education are driving an increase in pharmacist-administered testing, said Michael Klepser, a professor of pharmacy at Ferris State University, whose research focus includes the utility and implementation of pharmacy POC testing.Pharmacy POC testing is distinct from other retail testing models like retail clinics such as CVS' MinuteClinic, which offers a relatively wide range of healthcare services (typically provided by a physician assistant or nurse practitioner), or collaborations between retailers and reference labs like Quest Diagnostics or Laboratory Corporation of America, where the retailers essentially serve as draw centers for these labs.

Nineteen New Jersey companies received perfect scores in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2019 Corporate Equality Index, used to judge how employers meet the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community with policies and practices. Other top-score earners include Subaru of America Inc. in Cherry Hill; Prudential Financial Inc. in Newark; BASF Corp. in Florham Park; ADP in Roseland; Dun & Bradstreet Corp. in Short Hills; Campbell Soup Co. in Camden; Quest Diagnostics Inc. in Lyndhurst; Becton, Dickinson and Co. in Franklin Lakes; Wyndham Destinations in Parsippany; Horizon Healthcare Services Inc. in Newark; Day Pitney LLP in Parsippany; Bayer U.S. LLC in Whippany; Celgene Corp. in Summit; Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick; Merck in Kenilworth; Sanofi in Bridgewater; Unilever in Englewood Cliffs; and American Express Global Business Travel in Jersey City.

Four companies were recognized for their contributions to Quest while displaying behavior consistent with the company’s values of Quality, Integrity, Innovation, Accountability, Collaboration and Leadership. The awards were given during a meeting which brought together senior executives from over 40 key suppliers.

It has been a tough stretch for health-care stocks in 2019, and there is a good chance it isn’t over yet.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is one of several Democratic presidential candidates pushing for Medicare for All. With the 2020 presidential election still 18 months away, the direction of health-care policy is likely to remain.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest Diagnostics (DGX) yields 2.2%. The company provides medical tests for a long list of medical conditions, including lung cancer, allergies, and hepatitis C. Last month it was named a preferred labor provider for UnitedHealth.

The reality of legalization in Illinois, if it happens at all, would likely be much hazier. Some employers might start turning a blind eye to employee use - as long as workers can still do their jobs - a trend that's already happening in some other states where it's legal. Other employers, however, might still ban its use, taking action against employees who test positive for pot, bolstered by federal law under which marijuana is still illegal, experts say. In Colorado, about 96 percent of employers who used the drug testing company Quest Diagnostics in 2017 still included marijuana in their employee drug testing, said Dr. Barry Sample, senior director of science and technology for Quest's employers solutions business. In Nevada, where recreational cannabis use is also legal, that number was 91 percent in 2017.

Recent surveys indicate that a majority of the nation's hospital and health system CEOs and CFOs are unaware of the requirement that they report their private payer clinical laboratory test price data to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) starting Jan. 1, 2020. Hospitals that fail to report this data may be assessed penalties of up to $10,000 per day. "Last December, a survey of hospital and health network C-level administrators conducted by Modern Healthcare and Quest Diagnostics revealed that nearly 80% of survey respondents were unaware that their institutions met the definition of 'applicable laboratory' and were thus legally required to report the clinical laboratory test prices they were paid by private health insurers," explained Robert L. Michel, Editor-In-Chief of THE DARK REPORT.