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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.