Media Coverage

The giant inflatable colon stolen from a Kansas City nonprofit last year will soon have a name. Quest Diagnostics and the Colon Cancer Coalition are hosting a naming ceremony Friday, March 1 at noon. Police said last year, thanks to a tip, officers found it in a vacant house near Virginia Avenue and Gregory Boulevard.

Roughly a year after its launch, a pilot project exploring the use of blockchain to manage healthcare provider records is paying off. The effort, which has thus far focused on some 100,000 provider locations across Texas, has produced substantial efficiencies for participating firms, said Jason O'Meara, senior director of architecture at Quest Diagnostics, one of the seven companies comprising the Synaptic Health Alliance, the healthcare industry group leading the project.

Quest Diagnostics said this week that its board has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.53 per share, payable on April 22 to shareholders of record on April 8. Laboratory Corporation of America recorded net restructuring charges of $48.1 million related to severance and other personnel costs, and integration activities in 2018, it reported in its Form 10K to the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week.

Quest Diagnostics combined its chief information and digital officers into one role and named Gabrielle Wolfson, former Xerox Corp. CIO, to the role in February, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ms. Wolfson comes to Quest with experience managing the technology infrastructure and digital business at Xerox, according to the report. Former Quest Diagnostics CIO Lidia Fonseca left the role last year to take a position as chief digital officer at Pfizer.

Gov. Phil Murphy will reveal a state budget Tuesday that reduces spending on health care for New Jersey’s government workers by $800 million, alleviating at least some pressure on the state to hike major taxes this year, NJ Advance Media has learned. Murphy expects to save $61 million by auditing the insurance rolls and rooting out ineligible dependents, $7.9 million by auditing claims processed by the current pharmacy benefits manager, and $12.5 million by shifting Quest Diagnostics, the popular diagnostic lab, in network, among other changes, including rebidding the state’s contract for a pharmacy benefits manager.