Media Coverage

The rate of positive drug tests rose by double digits in five of 16 major U.S. workforce industry sectors from 2015 to 2017, according to a recent analysis by lab services provider Quest Diagnostics.

Patient health literacy and knowledge about their own medical information leaves a lot to be desired, leading to calls for better patient education about patient portal and data access, according to a survey conducted by Kelton Global on behalf of Quest Diagnostics.

The rate of positive drug tests rose by double digits in five of 16 major U.S. workforce industry sectors from 2015 to 2017, according to a recent analysis by lab services provider Quest Diagnostics. An examination of data from more than 10 million urine drug tests conducted over the three-year period showed that transportation and warehousing had the largest increase, at 21.4 percent, followed by other services except public administration (15.4 percent), finance and insurance (13), retail trade (12.8), and wholesale trade (11.8).

With trends in drug misuse shifting, Quest Diagnostics is using data mining to help clinicians stay on top of the problem. Quest annually mines and analyzes data from millions of drug tests performed at its laboratories across the country. Last fall, the company released its annual Health Trends, Drug Misuse in America 2018 report, based on 3.9 million de-identified, aggregated lab tests conducted at the Quest laboratories between 2011 and 2017. The mining exercise, and the resulting annual report, are intended to serve as a guide for the clinicians it serves, and for its own laboratories looking to better prepare to meet drug testing needs.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2019, employees and their families who have enrolled with Penn State health benefits will pay the least amount of coinsurance (10 percent), after their deductible, for lab services by using Quest Diagnostics or LabCorp.