Media Coverage

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced December 27, 2019, that it is doubling the minimum annual percentage rate of random drug testing for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The agency is raising the minimum random drug testing rate of commercial driver’s license (CDL) holders from the current 25 percent to 50 percent for calendar year 2020.

DNA testing kits were a popular gift over the holidays, and now one company is offering users the chance to learn more about their health as well as their past. NBC investigative and consumer correspondent Vicky Nguyen joins TODAY with what you need to know.

Hackers have accessed over 7.9 billion consumer records so far this year, with experts predicting that over 8.5 billion accounts will be exposed by the end of the year.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The majority of the over 5,000 data hacks this year Risk Based Security has tracked so far consisted of only a few million accounts. Yet there were a few mega hacks that involved hundreds of millions.[CR-LF]In early June, lab-testing company Quest Diagnostics announced that it found a data breach affecting its billing and collections vendor, the American Medical Collection Agency.

23andMe tests for 29 variants of the CFTR gene that causes cystic fibrosis, he said, while his department uses Quest Diagnostics to test for 161. Quest also offers a broader test that can look for about 1,000 variants associated with 98 percent of cystic fibrosis cases. More than 1,700 variants of this gene have been discovered, according to the CF Foundation.

With the possibility of legalizing recreational marijuana appearing on the 2020 ballot, the Florida House Health Quality Subcommittee continued hearings on the potential consequences of legalizing cannabis on Wednesday. [CR-LF] [CR-LF]Pro-legalization advocates have raised concerns that lawmakers have focused too much on the negatives and given little time to the positives.[CR-LF] [CR-LF]Members heard from economics professor Dr. Rosalie Pacula with the University of Southern California.[CR-LF]And a drug testing lab, which suggested its research shows employees have steadily been increasing marijuana use over the past decade.[CR-LF] [CR-LF]“There's been a 70 percent higher self-reported use of marijuana among those respondents not subject to employer drug testing,” said Dr. Barry Sample with Quest Diagnostics.

The laws about marijuana in Wisconsin aren't changing. But recent legalization of recreational marijuana in neighboring states and shifting societal norms are causing employers to rethink how to treat cannabis use. [CR-LF][CR-LF]Calls to MRA's human resources hotline about workplace drug testing increased in recent months. Employers are asking just how exactly the changing tides will affect them. [CR-LF][CR-LF]The laboratories that carry out employer-based drug testing, such as Quest Diagnostics, do not see evidence that people are abandoning the practice, said Quest Diagnostics Director of Science and Technology Barry Sample.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated announced today the pricing of a public offering of $800 million aggregate principal amount of its 2.950% senior notes due 2030 under the Quest Diagnostics' shelf registration statement.

North Carolina’s governor has announced that a clinical trial lab services provider will add 749 jobs at a new facility over the next few years.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement Wednesday that Q Squared Solutions LLC will invest $73 million in the Durham-based facility that’s expected to grow over seven years.The company is described as a joint venture between IQVIA and Quest Diagnostics that offers laboratory services and biospecimen management among other services.

For blockchain to be successful in healthcare, it needs to scale. This is why collaborations have been created between major healthcare organizations to grow the technology.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In April 2018, five healthcare giants — Humana, MultiPlan, Quest Diagnostics, UnitedHealthcare Group and Optum, launched the Synaptic Health Alliance, a pilot program using blockchain to ensure health plan provider directors include up-to-date physician information.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Since then, St. Louis-based Ascension and Aetna have joined the project.

As the United States tries to wean off prescription opioids, physicians worry about the impact on chronic pain patients: Doctors are concerned that many chronic pain patients will turn to illicit drugs if they do not have access to prescription opioids, according to a new report from Quest Diagnostics. For the report, researchers polled 500 primary care physicians (PCPs) and analyzed 4.4 million lab test results.

Stewardship is defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.” In health care, laboratory administrators are frontline stewards, providing quality, appropriate laboratory services to guide patient care. [CR-LF][CR-LF]But laboratory administrators are increasingly in charge of a different kind of stewardship—managing the cost of laboratory spend and achievement of financial incentives for meeting lab-based quality metrics. That’s because laboratory testing drives most health care decisions, with significant downstream consequences on patient outcomes and costs.

Robotic process automation (RPA), or bots that can be programmed to perform tedious and mundane tasks, is undergoing a period of explosive growth. Deloitte reports that 53% of companies have begun deploying it and that 78% of adopters will invest more in RPA in the next three years. In fact, assuming the current trend continues, it’s anticipated that RPA will achieve “near universal adoption” within five years.[CR-LF][CR-LF]One of the incumbents in the space is Automation Anywhere, which in the roughly 16 years since its founding has attracted over 3,500 customers in more than 90 countries, among them LinkedIn, MasterCard, Comcast, Hitachi, Stanley Black & Decker, IBM, Cisco, Symantic, Juniper Networks, Tesco, Unilever, Volkswagen, Whirlpool, Quest Diagnostics, Deloitte, Boston Scientific, Dell EMC, Accenture, Cognizent, Siemens, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the World Bank.

Among more than 100,000 patients enrolled in both commercial insurance and Medicare Advantage programs, researchers found that the annual percentage undergoing tapering doubled between 2008 and 2017.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In another recent survey, which was conducted by Quest Diagnostics and the Center on Addiction, more than four out of five doctors said they were reluctant to take on patients using prescribed opioids. They also said the opioid crisis made it more difficult to treat patients in pain.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing, information, and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic testing information and services, such as routine testing, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.

Neither vitamin D nor marine omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid supplementation significantly reduces the rate of first heart failure hospitalization, according to a research letter published online Nov. 11 in Circulation to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, held from Nov. 16 to 18 in Philadelphia.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Luc Djoussé, M.D., Sc.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the effects of vitamin D and n-3 supplements on the incidence of heart failure hospitalization in a large, multi-ethnic cohort with 25,871 adults; 36 participants with prevalent heart failure were excluded.[CR-LF]Two authors disclosed financial ties to Quest Diagnostics, which measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and serum omega-3 index at no cost; several pharmaceutical companies provided the study agents, matching placebos, and packaging.

A laboratory test that evaluates high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol function provides unique and novel information for assessing cardiovascular disease risk, according to data presented today (Abstract #1020) by Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) at the 2019 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. The study is one of four the company will present at the conference, which runs November 16-18, in Philadelphia (Booth #1502).

Technology’s role in health care is creating new opportunities for established health care providers and insurers, as well as entrepreneurs.[CR-LF][CR-LF]That was the conclusion of a panel of health care experts at the Newark Regional Business Partnership series entitled: How Technology is Changing Health Care on Thursday in Newark.[CR-LF]Dr. Damian Alagia, chief clinical officer, Health Systems at Quest Diagnostics said that for an entrepreneur it is a great time to be in medicine.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“Anyplace in health care where you can put the patient in the center of everything you can do … if you look at health systems and doctors offices that are successful, they are the ones that kept the patients at the center, everything emanates from that patient care model. If you get that right everything else falls into place,” said Alagia.

Oxford Immunotec is seeing positive signs emerging from its strategic partnership with Quest Diagnostics in the US for sales of its interferon-gamma release assay for latent tuberculosis while new initiatives and an overhaul of its China business model are driving international growth.[CR-LF][CR-LF]This week, Oxford Immunotec reported third quarter financial results that beat the analysts' average expectations on both the top and bottom lines. On Tuesday, the maker of the T-Spot.TB test, with headquarters in Abingdon, UK, reported 32 percent growth year over year in total revenue and EPS $.03

Quest Diagnostics today announced that it has achieved Gold status in the American Heart Association's 2019 Workplace Health Achievement Index, ranking the company's workplace health initiative among the best in the nation. 2019 marks the second year in a row that Quest has earned this distinction.[CR-LF][CR-LF]More than 1,000 companies completed the Index assessment this year and those which received Gold recognition have demonstrated the highest level of achievement. The Index uses science-based best practices to evaluate the overall quality and comprehensiveness of workplace health programs.

With simpler acquisitions largely done, the larger labs may be in the next phase of their acquisition strategies — deals that require more labor and sweat.[CR-LF][CR-LF]During Quest Diagnostics' recent Q3 2019 earnings call, Chairman, President, and CEO Steve Rusckowski noted that while the company's lab "acquisition pipeline remains strong … most deals in our pipeline are taking more time to develop than they have in the past."[CR-LF][CR-LF]He cited the greater "complexity" of the acquisitions Quest was currently pursuing, saying that "conversations with hospital systems are getting broader," and added that hospital CEOs are interested in how the company "can help them with professional lab services and taking on more of their reference work."

Construction workers and others handling heavy duty machinery in hazardous conditions are more likely to misuse prescription opioid medication and use cocaine than other workers, according to a study released Thursday.[CR-LF][CR-LF][CR-LF]Earlier this year, Quest Diagnostics DGX, -0.46%, a company performing drug-test laboratory work, said there were double-digit increases in drug detection for six of 17 sectors. The tests look for the presence of drugs, including marijuana, amphetamines, cocaine and opiates.

During its Q3 earnings call last week, Quest Diagnostics provided an update on its plans to move its immunoassays to a single vendor as Chairman, President, and CEO Steve Rusckowski said that the company planned to announce that vendor in the near future.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The move to a single vendor will enable "greater throughput, a more efficient footprint, and is expected to save tens of millions of dollars per year," Rusckowski said, noting that this will help offset declines in test reimbursement due to the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA).

Did you know that our body produces Cannaboid (CBD)? Yes, that’s right! Our body has something called an Endocannabinoid system (ECS) which is also known as “the survival system”. Our ECS regulates everything from rest and relaxation to digestion to inflammation to organ and muscle performance, basically everything in our body that is connected to our brain and central nervous system. The ECS produces CBD which stimulates responses to naturally reduce aches, pains, improve mobility, flexibility, even moods, headaches, and sleep. If this is true, then you might be asking yourself, “Is my ECS even working?” Or maybe you are wondering, “If my body produces CBD why do some tell me this is a controlled substance and I could lose my job if I am using a CBD supplement?”[CR-LF][CR-LF]According to Quest Diagnostics Director of Science and Technology, Barry Sample, "If the product contains only CBD and has had the THC removed, then an individual being tested would not be expected to test positive for marijuana or marijuana metabolite." In other words, drug tests screen for THC, not CBD.

A federal court has given preliminary approval to a class action lawsuit against Quest Diagnostics field on behalf of individuals whose HIV testing data was exposed in a 2016 data breach.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The US District Court for the District of New Jersey approved on October 25, 2019, a $195,000 settlement between the plaintiffs and Quest under which lawsuit class members who are able to show they incurred monetary damages due to the breach can collect $250 each and members whose HIV test results were exposed can collect $75 each.

A federal court granted approval Oct. 25 to Quest Diagnostics to settle a class-action lawsuit that stemmed from a 2016 data breach for $195,000, according to GovInfoSecurity.com.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In November 2016, around 34,000 individuals may have had their protected health information exposed after an unauthorized third party gained access to the lab testing company's web application.