Media Coverage

Stewardship is defined as “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.” In health care, laboratory administrators are frontline stewards, providing quality, appropriate laboratory services to guide patient care. [CR-LF][CR-LF]But laboratory administrators are increasingly in charge of a different kind of stewardship—managing the cost of laboratory spend and achievement of financial incentives for meeting lab-based quality metrics. That’s because laboratory testing drives most health care decisions, with significant downstream consequences on patient outcomes and costs.

Robotic process automation (RPA), or bots that can be programmed to perform tedious and mundane tasks, is undergoing a period of explosive growth. Deloitte reports that 53% of companies have begun deploying it and that 78% of adopters will invest more in RPA in the next three years. In fact, assuming the current trend continues, it’s anticipated that RPA will achieve “near universal adoption” within five years.[CR-LF][CR-LF]One of the incumbents in the space is Automation Anywhere, which in the roughly 16 years since its founding has attracted over 3,500 customers in more than 90 countries, among them LinkedIn, MasterCard, Comcast, Hitachi, Stanley Black & Decker, IBM, Cisco, Symantic, Juniper Networks, Tesco, Unilever, Volkswagen, Whirlpool, Quest Diagnostics, Deloitte, Boston Scientific, Dell EMC, Accenture, Cognizent, Siemens, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the World Bank.

Among more than 100,000 patients enrolled in both commercial insurance and Medicare Advantage programs, researchers found that the annual percentage undergoing tapering doubled between 2008 and 2017.[CR-LF][CR-LF]In another recent survey, which was conducted by Quest Diagnostics and the Center on Addiction, more than four out of five doctors said they were reluctant to take on patients using prescribed opioids. They also said the opioid crisis made it more difficult to treat patients in pain.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing, information, and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic testing information and services, such as routine testing, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services.

Neither vitamin D nor marine omega-3 (n-3) fatty acid supplementation significantly reduces the rate of first heart failure hospitalization, according to a research letter published online Nov. 11 in Circulation to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Heart Association, held from Nov. 16 to 18 in Philadelphia.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Luc Djoussé, M.D., Sc.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the effects of vitamin D and n-3 supplements on the incidence of heart failure hospitalization in a large, multi-ethnic cohort with 25,871 adults; 36 participants with prevalent heart failure were excluded.[CR-LF]Two authors disclosed financial ties to Quest Diagnostics, which measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and serum omega-3 index at no cost; several pharmaceutical companies provided the study agents, matching placebos, and packaging.

A laboratory test that evaluates high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol function provides unique and novel information for assessing cardiovascular disease risk, according to data presented today (Abstract #1020) by Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) at the 2019 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions. The study is one of four the company will present at the conference, which runs November 16-18, in Philadelphia (Booth #1502).

Technology’s role in health care is creating new opportunities for established health care providers and insurers, as well as entrepreneurs.[CR-LF][CR-LF]That was the conclusion of a panel of health care experts at the Newark Regional Business Partnership series entitled: How Technology is Changing Health Care on Thursday in Newark.[CR-LF]Dr. Damian Alagia, chief clinical officer, Health Systems at Quest Diagnostics said that for an entrepreneur it is a great time to be in medicine.[CR-LF][CR-LF]“Anyplace in health care where you can put the patient in the center of everything you can do … if you look at health systems and doctors offices that are successful, they are the ones that kept the patients at the center, everything emanates from that patient care model. If you get that right everything else falls into place,” said Alagia.

Oxford Immunotec is seeing positive signs emerging from its strategic partnership with Quest Diagnostics in the US for sales of its interferon-gamma release assay for latent tuberculosis while new initiatives and an overhaul of its China business model are driving international growth.[CR-LF][CR-LF]This week, Oxford Immunotec reported third quarter financial results that beat the analysts' average expectations on both the top and bottom lines. On Tuesday, the maker of the T-Spot.TB test, with headquarters in Abingdon, UK, reported 32 percent growth year over year in total revenue and EPS $.03

Quest Diagnostics today announced that it has achieved Gold status in the American Heart Association's 2019 Workplace Health Achievement Index, ranking the company's workplace health initiative among the best in the nation. 2019 marks the second year in a row that Quest has earned this distinction.[CR-LF][CR-LF]More than 1,000 companies completed the Index assessment this year and those which received Gold recognition have demonstrated the highest level of achievement. The Index uses science-based best practices to evaluate the overall quality and comprehensiveness of workplace health programs.

With simpler acquisitions largely done, the larger labs may be in the next phase of their acquisition strategies — deals that require more labor and sweat.[CR-LF][CR-LF]During Quest Diagnostics' recent Q3 2019 earnings call, Chairman, President, and CEO Steve Rusckowski noted that while the company's lab "acquisition pipeline remains strong … most deals in our pipeline are taking more time to develop than they have in the past."[CR-LF][CR-LF]He cited the greater "complexity" of the acquisitions Quest was currently pursuing, saying that "conversations with hospital systems are getting broader," and added that hospital CEOs are interested in how the company "can help them with professional lab services and taking on more of their reference work."