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More than half of respondents in a recent KPMG survey said they expect AI to change the nature of their business, while nearly 70% plan to invest as much as $250 million in generative AI tools, up from 45% in 2024. Those investments require some risk-taking, but also hard analysis and alignment between finance and IT. Getting to that alignment can be tricky. At Quest Diagnostics, a New Jersey-based medical-testing firm, CFO Sam Samad and CIO Murali Balakumar try to avoid some of these issues by embedding managers in each other’s team. “I’ve got someone who’s reporting to Sam, but who is in all of my meetings,” Balakumar said. Finance has a similar representative in the CIO’s office, he said.

Quest Diagnostics announced it is teaming up with Google Cloud to develop artificial intelligence programs that can personally respond to patients, providers and other customers. That includes generative AI applications that could “connect employees and customers with enterprise-wide knowledge,” the clinical testing giant said in a statement, in addition to helping patients receive insights from their own lab results.

What did you learn from running a business during the pandemic that you apply to your operations today? James Davis, chair and CEO, Quest Diagnostics: Quest played a critical role supporting the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic with our high-quality molecular diagnostic and serology antibody testing. While the team scaled COVID-19 testing capacity in record time, the experience revealed the value of partnerships with public health and other groups to anticipate and prepare for threats in advance. We recently put this lesson to work through a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention preparedness arrangement, which enabled us to launch the nation’s first commercial H5 avian flu test late last year.

Quest Diagnostics plans to buy select assets of Fresenius Medical Care’s laboratory testing services business Spectra Laboratories for an undisclosed amount. The sale fits in with Fresenius' goal of divesting non-core, lower-margin assets, CEO Helen Giza said Tuesday during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year, the company said in a news release.

Forever chemicals, PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances), endocrine disruptors, microplastics: These modern-day pollutants and man-made chemicals designed for durability are seemingly everywhere. They’re in food, water, everyday products (think: plastic or clothes), indoor and outdoor air, and – as their adverse health effects become more and more evident – they’re all over the news. Still stressed? Ask your health care provider for a “body burden” test (usually a blood test); Quest Diagnostics has a PFAS test panel.