Media Coverage

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Strategy, SWOT and Corporate Finance Report, is a source of comprehensive company data and information. The report covers the company's structure, operation, SWOT analysis, product and service offerings and corporate actions, providing a 360 view of the company.

Prevention of heart disease has centered on smoking cessation, controlling blood pressure, achieving an appropriate weight, regular exercise, control of blood sugar, and control of your cholesterol. Despite addressing and controlling these items, individuals still have heart attacks and strokes and vascular events. Researchers are now directing their attention to a dietary metabolite of red meat called trimethlamine N-oxide or TMAO.[CR-LF][CR-LF]There is even a blood test to measure TMAO levels developed by the Cleveland Clinic and available through Quest Labs. Do not get too excited about asking your physician to order it on your blood because it requires eliminating meat, poultry, and fish plus other food items for several days in advance of the test.

With the recent launch of an automated microbiology system in its Marlborough, Massachusetts laboratory, Quest Diagnostics is looking to streamline a department that has seen less impact from automation than many other parts of the lab.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Sourced from lab automation firm Copan Diagnostics, the system is anticipated to cut costs and turnaround time and help address challenges facing clinical microbiology labs, including staffing shortages and reimbursement cuts.

Laboratory services that identify genetic markers of cancer help predict future cancer, identify existing disease, and guide treatment decisions in oncology care. Despite this foundational role in cancer care, laboratory test services often face coverage and reimbursement pressures from health plans that struggle to evaluate the tests’ clinical and economic value. Both oncologists and payers face an avalanche of information on diagnostic tests, which confuses treatment, coverage, and reimbursement decisions. Despite this, physicians and genetic counselors are willing to evaluate the data à la carte in the context of each patient. Genetic testing has quickly become an accepted aspect of mainstream medicine.1

In the last year, a record number of states have amended or enacted laws which regulate marijuana testing, accommodations, and use. Among these states, at least two states have specifically banned pre-employment testing of marijuana. Some states have also enacted provisions which protect employees from being discriminated against for obtaining a medical marijuana license, require reasonable accommodations and provide privacy rights outside of the workplace. In total, 15 states currently have medical cannabis laws that provide some form of explicit employment protection for medical cannabis users. Needless to say, the rapid progression in marijuana legalization has left employers “Dazed and Confused.”[CR-LF][CR-LF]According to the annual Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index, positive marijuana results have increased nearly 24 percent since 2014 for safety-sensitive employees in the federal workplace, who are subject to federally mandated drug testing.