Media Coverage

Democratic presidential candidates' calls for "Medicare for all" may seem like a threat to profits and innovation in the U.S. healthcare sector, but not all industry executives see it that way, even in the remote chance such a proposal is enacted. Some healthcare executives say giving the public the option of government coverage could actually be a net plus for the industry by adding more customers, particularly the estimated 44 million citizens who have no coverage. For companies like Quest Diagnostics, the largest provider of lab services, the answer is to roll up the industry to give it pricing power. "There are hundreds of laboratory companies, so our acquisition strategy is to consolidate the industry," CEO Stephen Rusckowski told Mergermarket. The company expects to spend an average of $250 million to $300 million a year on acquisitions.

While staffing shortages are one of main challenges facing the lab industry, some employees are seeing a benefit in the form of rising compensation. During Quest Diagnostics' Q4 earnings call last month, CFO Mark Guinan said that the company had seen "rising wage pressure" due to the tightening labor market. Quest President, Chairman, and CEO Steve Rusckowski noted that the firm was primarily seeing this pressure at what he called "the front end of our value chain," meaning positions like couriers and specimen processing where it competes for workers not only with other labs but also with employers outside the lab industry.

UNT Health Science Center and Quest Diagnostics are collaborating to improve outcomes for high risk patients in underserved populations. Quest, which is the leading diagnostic information services company, will use its massive trove of data from its diagnostic business to provide guidance on how to manage populations effectively.

With its recent acquisition of Finnish molecular diagnostics firm Blueprint Genetics, Quest Diagnostics is looking to expand and improve its genetic testing portfolio.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The lab company was particularly interested in Blueprint's informatics capabilities, which Carrie Eglinton Manner, Quest's senior vice president of Advanced Diagnostics, said would enhance its existing genetic test offerings by improving variant interpretation and reporting.[CR-LF][CR-LF][CR-LF]"We have full next-generation sequencing services in a number of our labs," she said. "The capability that we are really excited about is their bioinformatics capability. Their bioinformatics has a depth and flexibility, including software engineering expertise, that we can apply to our entire portfolio… to help accelerate [bringing] test offerings to market as well as expanding growth for the company."

Long Island companies may have to rethink their drug testing policies as state lawmakers renew a push to legalize recreational marijuana.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A bid for legalization narrowly failed last year. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who included the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act in his new budget, made it clear last month in his State of the State address that it's one of his top priorities. The New York State Bar Association threw its support behind legalization last month.

The human brain has a unique ability to take in information, block out unnecessary data, analyze it and issue a motor response—all within fractions of a second. It is one of the many reasons why humans are at the top of the food chain.[CR-LF][CR-LF]But the ability to process information, make a quick decision and act accordingly can be affected when under the influence of marijuana. All the steps involved in decision making slow down, which can—in some cases—cause catastrophic, unintended effects.

Mayor Erin Stewart held a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday afternoon for Quest Diagnostics’ newest Patient Service Center at One Grove Place.

Quest Diagnostics, a leading provider of diagnostic information services, and Memorial Hermann Health System, a leading not-for-profit health system that includes 17 hospitals and more than 300 care delivery sites in the Greater Houston region, announced a multi-pronged, long-term collaboration intended to broaden access to innovative, high-value laboratory services for providers and patients in Greater Houston.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Quest and Memorial Hermann have executed a definitive agreement for Quest to acquire select assets which constitute substantially all the operations of Memorial Hermann Diagnostic Laboratories (MHDL), the outreach laboratory division of Memorial Hermann. The acquisition includes nearly 30 MHDL patient service centers and nearly 60 in-office laboratory service sites. These services will transition to the Quest Diagnostics full-service laboratory in Houston. Upon closing, Quest will also provide professional laboratory management services through a multi-year agreement for all of Memorial Hermann's 21 hospital laboratories, which provide onsite rapid response testing. Memorial Hermann will continue to wholly own these labs.

Quest Diagnostics today reported a 5 percent year-over-year rise in revenues for the fourth quarter, beating the consensus expectation from Wall Street analysts.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2019 was $1.93 billion, up from $1.84 billion in the same quarter last year. The consensus Wall Street estimate was $1.92 billion.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Test volumes grew 4 percent during the quarter with revenue per test growing a little more than 1 percent.[CR-LF][CR-LF]During a conference call following release of the results, Quest Chairman, President, and CEO Steve Rusckowski, said that expanded access to healthcare plan networks combined with good operational execution allowed the company to counter what he called "significant reimbursement pressure."

Companies, we all know, need to make a profit to prosper and survive. Making a buck, after all, is important to investors, employees and vendors. But over the years, executives have come to realize that they need to do much more. That is, by giving back to the communities they operate in and standing up as good neighbors and citizens.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Newsweek partnered with global data research firm Statista Inc. to publish our first ranking of America's Most Responsible Companies. As you will see from our description of the methodology, Statista worked from a universe of 2000 public companies to determine which firms were tops when it came to doing good. Quest Diagnostics is number 164.