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Human resource executives and other C-Suite leaders are grappling with unprecedented strain caused by “The Great Resignation” wage inflation and, more recently, concerns about a potential future recession. Never has the challenge of keeping employees healthy, safe and engaged been more fraught. While these complex issues elude an easy fix, a recent survey from Quest Diagnostics suggests HR executives are overlooking the retention power of a perk they already provide: health benefits. According to 1,269 HR executives and employees surveyed, 36% of employees who were thinking of leaving their jobs cited a desire for better healthcare benefits as a top reason.

Quest Diagnostics announced Nov. 28 that it completed its acquisition of LabCare Plus, the outreach laboratory services business of Ohio-based Summa Health.

Oncologist and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Quest Diagnostics, Dr. Yuri Fesko, talks about why shortening this gap is critical to ensuring better patient outcomes and shared steps hospitals, health systems and physicians can take now to reduce testing delays, improve outcomes and lower costs of care.

During the last 15 years, researchers have become increasingly interested in developing blood tests that provide a window into the brain. Today, three tests — by C2N Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics and Quanterix — are on the market, with more on the way. C2N debuted a test two years ago based on discoveries by Washington University scientists. Tests by Quest and Quanterix entered the market this year. None is covered by Medicare. Other companies, including Eli Lilly and Roche, have developed tests or are working on them. Next-generation tests are on the way. C2N charges $1,250 for its test and offers financial assistance for eligible patients. Quest, which charges $500, said some health plans are paying for the test. Quanterix declined to disclose a price but said its test is much cheaper than specialized scans. All the companies are trying to secure broader insurance coverage.

Continued staffing shortages, more industry consolidation, and the growing ubiquity of at-home testing are just a few of the predictions that clinical laboratory experts are making for 2023. CLP recently asked clinical laboratory industry experts to weigh in on their predictions for the coming year. Following, in no particular order, are the top 10 predictions for 2023.

“There is room for error, particularly with at-home testing,” Dr. Jeffrey Dlott, senior medical director of diagnostics services at Quest Diagnostics, told Healthline. “Drawing one’s own blood can be daunting and anxiety-ridden for many. And if it’s not done right, results can be inconclusive and require the collection process to be repeated. For many, a blood draw by a trained phlebotomist may be preferred over pricking one’s own finger at home.”

Quest Diagnostics is broadening access to its multiplex test to detect flu and COVID-19, letting patients self-collect samples for the test at its 1,600 testing centers across the U.S. Previously, patients had to make an appointment at a testing site, where they were swabbed by a clinician.

Jim Davis, who helped lead the Quest Diagnostics response to the COVID-19 pandemic, officially assumed the role of CEO and president Tuesday morning, succeeding the retiring Steve Rusckowski. Davis also was elected to the company’s board of directors. Davis, who came to Quest in 2013 as senior vice president of diagnostics solutions, has served as executive vice president for general diagnostics since 2017.

Employers are in the business of supporting employee health. According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2022 Employer Benefits Survey, nearly half of employers consider wellness benefits a significantly important offering. But striking the balance between helping employees without overreaching into employee privacy can be tricky. HR Dive spoke with Steven Goldberg, MD, MBA, vice president and chief health officer, employee and population health, at Quest Diagnostics about how the company has managed efforts directed at employee health — while also respecting worker privacy.

Leading brands are well-oiled marketing machines. You can’t become a household name without it. But a select subset of brands are taking that expertise and the size of their platforms, and using them to bring awareness to important issues or raise money for critical causes.

QUEST FOR HEALTH EQUITY: As a brand most Americans only think about when they’re getting their blood drawn or urine tested, Quest Diagnostics moved to play a larger role in addressing health disparities in underserved communities when it established Quest for Health Equity at the end of 2020. Since then, the organization has partnered with religious leaders, health experts, and community organizations nationwide to push COVID-19 education, testing, and vaccination through Black religious organizations. Quest for Health Equity also worked to help Puerto Ricans with Long COVID, establishing the island’s first clinic focused specifically on Long COVID, helping more than 2,400 patients since opening in 2021.

Though countless diagnostic developers struck it rich at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of those that were relatively new to the testmaking game are now struggling to make up for lost sales as the spread of the virus slows down. Not so for established testing giants like Quest Diagnostics, which has seen its base business rebound in direct relation to dropping COVID-related earnings.

Stocks that traded heavily or had substantial price changes Thursday: Tesla Inc., down $14.76 to $207.28. The electric vehicle maker warned it could miss its target of 50% annual growth in deliveries this year. Quest Diagnostics Inc., up $8 to $134.66. The medical laboratory chain’s third-quarter earnings and revenue beat analysts’ forecasts.

Decode Health has announced a new phase of its collaboration with Quest Diagnostics. In earlier phases of the collaboration, the two parties developed RNA (transcriptome) sequencing capabilities.

Recent research shows more messaging about cancer screening is needed. This is because diagnoses of prostate and breast cancer remain significantly below pre-pandemic levels. While this may sound like good news, it's not. The lower figures are due to a reverberating trend stemming from the pandemic. Based on data from 1.1 million patients, a Quest Diagnostics' analysis found cancer diagnoses plummeted nearly 30% in the first months of the pandemic in 2020, when much of society and healthcare were shuttered.

Quest Diagnostics said it recently joined forces with a free H.O.P.E. Clinic in Plainfield operated by Rutgers University to help reduce health disparities in a community with a high percentage of uninsured adults by providing free lab services. Not only is this helping people with chronic conditions receive the treatments they need, but it also is helping to keep health care costs down by giving people an alternative to emergency departments.

Recent research suggests a mainstay of HR strategy—benefits, particularly those related to employee healthcare—is underrecognized for its potential to influence recruitment and retention. According to the 2022 Health at Work report from Quest Diagnostics, workers at companies with 1,000 or more employees say the quality of a company’s benefits for physical and mental health largely defines its attractiveness as an employer of choice. When asked to cite the top two factors for attracting and retaining workers, half (50%) cited comprehensive health insurance, making it the highest rated factor. And this makes sense given how expensive, complex and critical healthcare is for employees in the U.S.

Alarming: A new study from Quest Diagnostics has found that cancer diagnosis dropped 11.2% below pre-pandemic levels between April 2021 and March 2022, and breast cancer diagnosis fell even further, by 17%. This suggests that women are still delaying mammograms, meaning thousands could be living with undiagnosed breast cancer. Here's when you should get your first mammogram.

Faced with a shortfall in applicants, employers across the U.S. are balancing pressure to ease up on testing for a legal drug with concerns that this could impact safety and raise issues of liability. The challenge of balancing workplace safety and the growing prevalence — and legalization — of some types of drugs is especially acute for manufacturers and others who use dangerous equipment. Data from Quest Diagnostics, which handles testing for companies, shows a steady increase in positivity rates for marijuana tests over the past decade — coinciding with the wave of legalization. In 2012, only 1.9% of workers not subject to federally mandated drug testing requirements failed a pre-employment screening. Last year, that had grown to 4.1%. The jump in positive tests after accidents grew even more during that period, up from 2.4% to 6.7%.

The first EUA for a proprietary monkeypox test was issued to Quest Diagnostics, Secaucus, NJ, on Sept. 7, 2022. “It’s an important step in identifying, treating, and, hopefully, eradicating monkeypox as we go forward,” says Damian “Pat” Alagia III, MD, MS, MBA, FACS, FACOG, chief clinical officer for health systems as well as the senior medical director for advanced diagnostics and women’s health for Quest Diagnostics. “About the time we got the EUA, we started to see a flattening of the curve of the trajectory of the disease, primarily because, concurrent with the EUA, we saw vaccinations starting to go up in the at-risk populations.”

Under the agreement, Quest's laboratories in Twinsburg and Pittsburgh will provide testing for physicians and patients of the outreach lab services business, known as LabCare Plus. Summa Health will continue to wholly own and operate its hospital labs.

With an increase in usage, and an increase in some states restricting employee testing, how will companies balance rights and safety? People are testing positive for drug use in the manufacturing sector at a higher rate. The most recent Quest Diagnosis Drug Testing Index survey found that from 2020 to 2021 overall positivity, which includes a number of drugs, increased by 4.5%. Looking at that number from 2017-2021 it was an increase of 28.6%. This survey is based on more than 11 million drug tests and covers a variety of industries, however, for this article, the data comes specifically from the manufacturing industry. “The largest driver for the increase is due to marijuana,” says Barry Sample, Ph.D., Senior Science Consultant for Quest Diagnostics.

Dr. Jeffrey Dlott shares lessons 1 year after the National Kidney Foundation removed race from the kidney function equation. Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began, gaps in care across the United States have magnified exponentially. Long-standing disparities affecting different racial and ethnic subpopulations reached the forefront of public consciousness, with COVID-19 demonstrating the critical role of social determinants of health on care and outcomes.

One day you’re in active treatment for breast cancer, and the next you’re not. You may have expected to feel “normal” at this point, but it’s not happening. Not physically and not emotionally. Because the initial focus is on treatment, the aftereffects can come as quite a shock. While everyone’s experiences are different, this article will cover some common challenges of life after breast cancer. Dr. Yuri Fesko is an oncologist and senior medical director of oncology and pharma services at Quest Diagnostics. He told Healthline that side effects can develop months or even years after treatment ends. “Each patient’s experience is unique, so even if two individuals share the same diagnosis and received the same treatment, how their bodies cope and the side effects they experience or are impacted by can be completely different.”

When Quest Diagnostics Inc. acquired Cleveland HeartLab in 2017, some people figured the small heart disease test developer's days in Cleveland were numbered. Instead, the large medical testing company, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, invested in the Cleveland Clinic spinoff, doubling its footprint to 22,000 square feet and increasing employee headcount to 240 at a facility in Cleveland's MidTown neighborhood.

Hound Labs announced an agreement with Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, establishing Quest as the exclusive provider of laboratory services for confirmatory testing of positive breath sample results generated by the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER, used by employers on location as an objective measure to detect and deter cannabis use during the workday.