Media Coverage

Aimed at making it a bit easier to track the ever-increasing list of coronavirus plays, here is a representative listof diagnostic companies that have either experienced recent volatility or may announce plans to develop tests for COVID-19. Some companies, of course, are more credible players than others.

Primary care physicians may be overconfident in their ability to recognize prescription drug misuse, a researcher suggested here.[CR-LF][CR-LF]An analysis that juxtaposed survey data from 500 primary care physicians with over a half million drug test results showed that nearly three-quarters of doctors trusted their patients to take medications as prescribed, but half of specimens showed signs of misuse, reported Jeffrey Gudin, MD, of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, at the American Academy of Pain Medicine annual meeting.

A worker who is using the drug medicinally may fail a drug test and lose their job. But a recreational user could be making their workplace less safe for everyone if they come to work inebriated.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Enter workplace drug testing.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The rate of positive drug tests hit a 14 year high in 2018, according to a recent Los Angeles Times article. Of the 10 million tests processed by Quest Diagnostics, 4.4% tested positive for some type of drug.

Two years ago, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) was presented with an opportunity to ratchet up adherence to one of its 30 recommendations — #21, which deals with evaluating adult patients with diabetes or hypertension for chronic kidney disease (CKD) through commonly used laboratory tests.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“What Choosing Wisely did was speed up the trajectory more than start the initiative,” said Lee Hilborne, MD, MPH, Past President and Chair of ASCP’s Appropriate Test Utilization Committee and Senior Medical Director for Quest Diagnostics, referring to the society’s partnership with the National Kidney Foundation to harmonize and simplify the testing protocol used to detect CKD.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated announced that it is scheduled to speak at the Barclays Global Healthcare Conference in Miami. Mark Guinan, Executive Vice President and CFO, will discuss the company's vision, goals and two-point strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence. The presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time.