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Quest Diagnostics, through its Cleveland HeartLab subsidiary, has entered into an agreement to purchase for $8.5 million certain assets of bankrupt testing firm True Health Diagnostics.

Michigan is preparing to usher in a new era with legal recreational marijuana sales in 2020, but the state's largest employers say their pre-employment drug screenings that include cannabis will not change. The state's residents already are failing pre-employment drug screening tests at a rate higher than elsewhere in the nation. According to Quest Diagnostics data, the numbers of people who didn't pass pre-employment drug screenings and likely lost potential job opportunities has increased by 31% from 2014 to 2018, and jumped more than 20% between 2017 and 2018, alone. A Quest Diagnostics scientist said the numbers suggest a spike in marijuana use.

Americans largely don't trust the healthcare system to secure their data, and one doesn't have to dig hard to find out why. In 2018, the healthcare sector retained the dubious honor of being the industry with the most data breaches, and less than a quarter of the country trusts health systems to protect their information, according to an August survey by the Harvard T.H. Chain School of Public Health. HHS first began requiring healthcare providers and their business associates to publicly disclose data breaches involving 500 people or more roughly a decade ago. Last year, nearly 300 breaches exposed the records of 11.5 million patients, and one single cybersecurity breach this year hitting the billing collection vendor for lab giants Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp affected the data of nearly 20 million patients.

Laboratory testing is one of the most commonly performed medical activities with, according to the American Clinical Laboratory Association, some 7 billion tests ordered each year.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A substantial number of those tests are likely unnecessary, however. A 2013 meta-analysis published in Plos One, for instance, found that roughly 21 percent of lab test orders represented over-utilization, meaning they didn't add information that was useful to patient careAt the same time, the study put the test underutilization rate at almost 45 percent, indicating that in a substantial proportion of cases, potentially useful tests are never used.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Also last week, Quest Diagnostics announced it had developed in collaboration with bioinformatics firm Hc1 a test utilization optimization system using Hc1's machine learning technology.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Called Quest Lab Stewardship, the product is part of Quest's broader move into providing lab management services for hospitals and health systems.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The system uses guidelines developed by the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely initiative to assess the appropriateness of test orders combined with Hc1's data analysis and integration capabilities to help hospital systems make more effective use of that appropriateness data.

A truck driver who says he took CBD oil for injuries to his hip and back that he suffered in a vehicle accident is suing the company that produced the product, alleging mislabeling.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The lawsuit says that the label stated the product contained no THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound in marijuana that produces a high. But following a random drug screening, Douglas Horn, of New York, was told by his employer that he tested positive for THC, his lawsuit states.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Employees subject to random drug tests need to be especially careful, said Barry Sample, director of science and technology solutions for Quest Diagnostics, a global diagnostic test and information network.

The National Business Group on Health presented 50 employers with 2019 Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-Being awards at its Workforce Strategy 2019 Conference in San Diego this week.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Now in its 15th year, the Best Employers: Excellence in Health & Well-Being awards recognize employers with exceptional commitment to improving their employees’ overall well-being, productivity and quality of life. The awards program incorporates a wide range of well-being contributors including financial security, mental and physical health, social connectedness and community involvement. Quest Diagnostics is listed as a Gold member.

The rate of newly diagnosed acute and chronic hepatitis B virus infections in women of childbearing age has significantly increased in some Appalachian states, despite overall national rates that have declined or remained stable.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Researchers suggested that injection drug use and waning HBV vaccine effectiveness may be contributing to this trend. “Women of childbearing age represent a priority group for HBV viral elimination efforts due to the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HBV,” Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, MBA, FCAP, senior medical director of medical informatics at Quest Diagnostics, told Infectious Disease News. “Higher rates of acute and chronic HBV among women of childbearing age may increase the rates of HBV infection among infants.”

Quest Diagnostics confirmed it has been cleared in US District Court for the Central District of California Western Division of misappropriating trade secrets from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in developing a serological test for irritable bowel syndrome.[CR-LF][CR-LF]A jury last week determined that Quest did not steal trade secrets from Cedars-Sinai or breach its contract with the hospital when it developed an IBS test similar to one developed by Cedars-Sinai researchers.

Quest Diagnostics announced today that Manuel O. Méndez has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer effective October 7, 2019.

Positive DOT drug tests will be tracked in the new Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse database.[CR-LF][CR-LF]Photo courtesy Quest Diagnostics.The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is finally rolling out in January 2020. This electronic database that will track commercial driver’s license holders who have tested positive for prohibited drug or alcohol use, as well as refusals to take required drug tests, and other drug and alcohol violations. In addition, when a driver who has been found to be in violation completes the required return-to-duty process, this information will also be recorded in the clearinghouse.[CR-LF][CR-LF]The clearinghouse has long been sought as a way to keep commercial drivers who have violated federal drug and alcohol rules from lying about those results and simply getting a job with another motor carrier.