Media Coverage

Quest Diagnostics has launched a new solution to enhance access to human papillomavirus (HPV) screening, enabling women to identify their risk of cervical cancer. The new offering includes a self-collection option, allowing patients to collect their own specimens for HPV screening in clinical settings. Starting next month, Quest Diagnostics will introduce this self-collection option at its 2,000 patient service centres across the United States, with a physician’s order.

The new Quest Diagnostics on Idaho Street in downtown Elko is the company's first foray into Northern Nevada east of Reno, an expansion prompted by a new contract with a major insurer in the region. The lab, at 1074 Idaho St., will have two phlebotomists when fully staffed and expects to draw blood from between 40 to 50 patients a day once operations get fully underway, according to Leanne Delgadillo, sales director for parts of California and Nevada.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began on March 15, 2020, reshaped healthcare, diagnostics, and public health preparedness, leaving lasting impacts on the industry. The increased public perception of clinical diagnostics has certainly been a silver lining. But it has also exposed ongoing challenges the industry was already coping with—adding additional pressure. “With an aging population, an increase in chronic diseases and delays in care due to the pandemic, the demand for diagnostic testing is on the rise. However, the current workforce is not growing at a pace that can keep up with this demand. Furthermore, there is a shortage of skilled professionals, particularly in specialized areas of laboratory medicine. So, one of the biggest challenges facing the laboratory industry will be staffing and a skilled workforce pipeline,” notes Elizabeth Marlowe, PhD, executive scientific director at Quest Diagnostics.

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.

Cleveland-based University Hospitals has completed the sale of select assets of its outreach laboratory services business to Quest Diagnostics. Under the agreement, Quest's labs in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Pittsburgh will handle testing for UH providers and patients who use Quest's lab services, according to a Jan. 27 news release. UH will continue to offer inpatient and select outpatient testing through its hospital-based labs. UH and Quest announced a definitive agreement in August.

Quest Diagnostics named Adrienne Brott its SVP and chief quality and regulatory affairs officer. She will oversee the firm's quality and regulatory strategy, as well as its efforts complying with US and global regulations and industry standards.