Media Coverage

Recent research suggests a mainstay of HR strategy—benefits, particularly those related to employee healthcare—is underrecognized for its potential to influence recruitment and retention. According to the 2022 Health at Work report from Quest Diagnostics, workers at companies with 1,000 or more employees say the quality of a company’s benefits for physical and mental health largely defines its attractiveness as an employer of choice. When asked to cite the top two factors for attracting and retaining workers, half (50%) cited comprehensive health insurance, making it the highest rated factor. And this makes sense given how expensive, complex and critical healthcare is for employees in the U.S.

Alarming: A new study from Quest Diagnostics has found that cancer diagnosis dropped 11.2% below pre-pandemic levels between April 2021 and March 2022, and breast cancer diagnosis fell even further, by 17%. This suggests that women are still delaying mammograms, meaning thousands could be living with undiagnosed breast cancer. Here's when you should get your first mammogram.

Faced with a shortfall in applicants, employers across the U.S. are balancing pressure to ease up on testing for a legal drug with concerns that this could impact safety and raise issues of liability. The challenge of balancing workplace safety and the growing prevalence — and legalization — of some types of drugs is especially acute for manufacturers and others who use dangerous equipment. Data from Quest Diagnostics, which handles testing for companies, shows a steady increase in positivity rates for marijuana tests over the past decade — coinciding with the wave of legalization. In 2012, only 1.9% of workers not subject to federally mandated drug testing requirements failed a pre-employment screening. Last year, that had grown to 4.1%. The jump in positive tests after accidents grew even more during that period, up from 2.4% to 6.7%.

The first EUA for a proprietary monkeypox test was issued to Quest Diagnostics, Secaucus, NJ, on Sept. 7, 2022. “It’s an important step in identifying, treating, and, hopefully, eradicating monkeypox as we go forward,” says Damian “Pat” Alagia III, MD, MS, MBA, FACS, FACOG, chief clinical officer for health systems as well as the senior medical director for advanced diagnostics and women’s health for Quest Diagnostics. “About the time we got the EUA, we started to see a flattening of the curve of the trajectory of the disease, primarily because, concurrent with the EUA, we saw vaccinations starting to go up in the at-risk populations.”

Under the agreement, Quest's laboratories in Twinsburg and Pittsburgh will provide testing for physicians and patients of the outreach lab services business, known as LabCare Plus. Summa Health will continue to wholly own and operate its hospital labs.

With an increase in usage, and an increase in some states restricting employee testing, how will companies balance rights and safety? People are testing positive for drug use in the manufacturing sector at a higher rate. The most recent Quest Diagnosis Drug Testing Index survey found that from 2020 to 2021 overall positivity, which includes a number of drugs, increased by 4.5%. Looking at that number from 2017-2021 it was an increase of 28.6%. This survey is based on more than 11 million drug tests and covers a variety of industries, however, for this article, the data comes specifically from the manufacturing industry. “The largest driver for the increase is due to marijuana,” says Barry Sample, Ph.D., Senior Science Consultant for Quest Diagnostics.

Dr. Jeffrey Dlott shares lessons 1 year after the National Kidney Foundation removed race from the kidney function equation. Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began, gaps in care across the United States have magnified exponentially. Long-standing disparities affecting different racial and ethnic subpopulations reached the forefront of public consciousness, with COVID-19 demonstrating the critical role of social determinants of health on care and outcomes.

One day you’re in active treatment for breast cancer, and the next you’re not. You may have expected to feel “normal” at this point, but it’s not happening. Not physically and not emotionally. Because the initial focus is on treatment, the aftereffects can come as quite a shock. While everyone’s experiences are different, this article will cover some common challenges of life after breast cancer. Dr. Yuri Fesko is an oncologist and senior medical director of oncology and pharma services at Quest Diagnostics. He told Healthline that side effects can develop months or even years after treatment ends. “Each patient’s experience is unique, so even if two individuals share the same diagnosis and received the same treatment, how their bodies cope and the side effects they experience or are impacted by can be completely different.”

When Quest Diagnostics Inc. acquired Cleveland HeartLab in 2017, some people figured the small heart disease test developer's days in Cleveland were numbered. Instead, the large medical testing company, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, invested in the Cleveland Clinic spinoff, doubling its footprint to 22,000 square feet and increasing employee headcount to 240 at a facility in Cleveland's MidTown neighborhood.

Hound Labs announced an agreement with Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, establishing Quest as the exclusive provider of laboratory services for confirmatory testing of positive breath sample results generated by the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER, used by employers on location as an objective measure to detect and deter cannabis use during the workday.