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Quest Diagnostics announced nationwide availability of the RestoreU Dementia Panel, a risk assessment and care plan AI-powered test service created by uMETHOD Health, a health technology company specializing in precision medicine for chronic diseases, to help physicians close care gaps for patients with cognitive decline.

Thursday marks the end of the public health emergency in the United States, more than three years after it was first declared to combat the novel coronavirus by unlocking powerful tools to detect and contain the emerging threat. While it closes a chapter in history, health experts point out the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over as the virus continues to claim about 1,000 lives each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest lab companies in the country, said labs will continue to provide COVID-19 services and tests, but “access to, fees and reimbursement for COVID-19 testing will change after the (public health emergency) expires.”

With so many different factors — genetics, lifestyle and environment — influencing a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s, many doctors are moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches and calling for more individualized treatments. It’s a concept known as precision medicine. And it’s what inspired a company called uMETHOD to create RestoreU, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to help physicians create personalized care plans for patients with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia. "Dementia is what’s called a complex disease," CEO Vik Chandra, co-founder and CEO of uMETHOD Health in Cary, North Carolina, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. Through a partnership with Quest Diagnostics, uMETHOD has rolled out its AI service to physicians, who can order the service through the patient’s electronic health record. Once the physician orders the service, it triggers the exchange of extensive information between the doctor's electronic health record systems and Quest Diagnostics, Chandra explained.

Quest Diagnostics is hoping it’s found a winner in Haystack Oncology, with a $450 million bet on the cancer-focused blood test startup. The clinical testing giant plans to acquire Baltimore-based Haystack for its technology to detect minimal residual disease by catching the early signs of a solid tumor’s recurrence by sifting out small pieces of cancer DNA floating in the bloodstream.

Quest Diagnostics Inc posted first-quarter profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on Thursday as its base business helped offset a fall in COVID-19 test kits sales. Demand for routine diagnostic tests has picked up as an increasing number of people return to the healthcare system for routine care after delaying care during the pandemic.