Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics is an American clinical laboratory. A Fortune 500 company, Quest operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Brazil.[4] Quest also maintains collaborative agreements with various hospitals and clinics across the globe.[5]

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated
TypePublic
IndustryHealth care
FoundedNew York City, United States (1967)
FounderPaul Brown
Headquarters
Secaucus, New Jersey
,
U.S.
Area served
Key people
Steve Rusckowski
(Chairman, President, & CEO)[1]
Services
Revenue US$7.73 billion (2019)[2]
US$1.31 billion (2019)[2]
US$838 million (2019)[2]
Total assets US$12.843 billion (2019)[2]
Total equity US$4.921 billion (2019)[2]
Number of employees
~47,000 (2020)[2][3]
Websitewww.questdiagnostics.com

As of 2020 the company had approximately 47,000 employees, and generated more than $7.7 billion in revenue in 2019.[6][3] The company offers access to diagnostic testing services for cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, neurological disorders, COVID-19 and employment and court ordered drug testing.[7]

History
Interior of a Quest Diagnostics office in Franconia, Virginia

1960–1995

Originally founded as Metropolitan Pathology Laboratory, Inc., in 1967 by Paul A. Brown, MD, the clinical laboratory underwent a variety of name changes.[8] In 1969, the company's name changed to MetPath, Inc.[9] with headquarters in Teaneck, New Jersey. By 1982, MetPath was acquired by what was then known as Corning Glass Works,[10] and subsequently renamed Corning Clinical Laboratories.[11]

1996–2000

On December 31, 1996, Quest Diagnostics became an independent company as a spin-off from Corning.[11][12] Kenneth Freeman was appointed as CEO during this transition.[13][14] Over the next year, Quest acquired a clinical laboratory division of Branford, CT–based Diagnostic Medical Laboratory, Inc. (DML).[15] Two years later in 1999, Quest added SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories to their subsidiaries;[16][17] which includes a joint venture ownership with CompuNet Clinical Laboratory.[18]

2001–2015
Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Quest Diagnostics, at the World Economic Forum in 2017

From May 2004 to April 2012, Surya Mohapatra served as the company's President and CEO. In 2007 Quest acquired diagnostic testing equipment company AmeriPath.[19] In response to Mohapatra's resignation after eight years with Quest, former Philips Healthcare CEO Stephen Rusckowski was appointed.[20] Under Rusckowski, Quest Diagnostics teamed up with central New England's largest health care system, UMass Memorial Health Care, to purchase its clinical outreach laboratory.[21]

2016–present

In 2016, Quest collaborated with Safeway to bring testing services to twelve of its stores in California, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and Colorado.[22]

By the end of 2017, Quest, in partnership with Walmart, incorporated laboratory testing in about 15 of their locations in Texas and Florida.[23]

In May 2018, the company announced it will become an in-network laboratory provider to UnitedHealthcare starting in 2019, providing access to 48 million plan members.[24]

In September 2018, Quest moved its headquarters from Madison, where it was located since 2007, to Secaucus, New Jersey.[25][26]

In November 2018, Quest launched QuestDirect, a consumer-initiated testing service that allows patients to order health and wellness lab testing from home.[27][28]

In March 2020, the company launched a COVID-19 testing service.[29] As of July 2020, Quest had performed more than 9.2 million COVID-19 molecular tests and 2.8 million serology tests.[30]

Acquisitions
  • 2001: Completes acquisition of Ohio-based MedPlus, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDP), a healthcare technology company.
  • 2002: Completes acquisition of Virginia-based American Medical Laboratories, Inc. (AML) and an affiliated company of AML, LabPortal, Inc., for approximately $500 million in cash.
  • 2003: Completes acquisition of California-based Unilab Corporation (NASDAQ: ULAB) in a transaction valued at approximately $800 million.
  • 2005: Completes acquisition of Lenexa, Kansas-based LabOne, Inc., which includes the Employer Solutions drug testing division and the ExamOne paramedical testing disivion, (NASDAQ: LABS) for approximately $934 million.
  • 2005: Forms a strategic alliance with Ciphergen Biosystems to commercialize novel proteomic tests.[31]
  • 2006: Completes acquisition of Virginia-based Focus Diagnostics, Inc., an infectious and immunologic disease laboratory, for approximately $185 million in cash.
  • 2007: Completes acquisition of Sweden-based Hemocue, a point-of-care diagnostic testing company.
  • 2007: Acquires AmeriPath (and subsidiary Specialty Laboratories) from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, becoming the leading provider of cancer diagnostic testing services.[19]
  • 2011: Acquires Athena Diagnostics from Thermo Fisher Scientific.[32]
  • 2011: Completes acquisition of Celera Corporation, a company that became famous by its sequencing of the Human Genome.[33]
  • 2014: Acquires Solstas Lab Partners Group (and subsidiaries).[34]
  • 2014: Acquires Summit Health, Inc.[35]
  • 2017: Acquires Cleveland HeartLab, Inc.[36]
  • 2018: Acquires U.S. laboratory services business of Oxford Immunotec.[37]
  • 2019: Acquires clinical laboratory services business of Boyce & Bynum Pathology Laboratories, a provider of diagnostic and clinical laboratory services in the Midwest.[38]
  • 2020: Acquires outreach laboratory service business of Memorial Hermann Health System, a non-for-profit health system in the Greater Houston region.[39]

Controversies

Quest Diagnostics set a record in April 2009 when it paid $302 million to the government to settle a Medicare fraud case alleging the company sold faulty medical testing kits. It was the largest qui tam (whistleblower) settlement paid by a medical lab for manufacturing and distributing a faulty product.[40] In May 2011, Quest paid $241 million to the state of California to settle a False Claims Act case that alleged the company had overcharged Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, and provided illegal kickbacks as incentives for healthcare providers to use Quest labs.[41]

In 2018, Quest Diagnostics was among a number of US based labs linked to inaccuracies of over 200 women's cervical smear tests for CervicalCheck, Ireland's national screening programme.[42][43]

On June 3, 2019 Quest announced that American Medical Collection Agency (AMCA), a billing collections service provider, had informed Quest Diagnostics that an unauthorized user had access to AMCA’s system containing personal information AMCA received from various entities, including from Quest.[44] AMCA provides billing collections services to Optum360, which in turn is a Quest contractor.[45]

In June 2019, a debt collector, Retrieval-Masters Credit Bureaus Inc. (doing business as American Medical Collection Agency), went bankrupt after a data breach that exposed credit card data and other details of millions of Quest Diagnostics patients. The breach was noticed after many of the credit cards in the debt collector's database were used for fraudulent online purchases.[46]

Quest was a major subcontractor for the Irish CervicalCheck national cervical screening program which aims to reduce the number of women in Ireland who develop cervical cancer leading to involvement in the ensuing scandal. Audits of the testing performed by Quest (and another subcontractor Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc. of Austin Texas) showed a high rate of errors in analysis of samples. It subsequently emerged that at least 221 women who developed cervical cancer were not told their smear histories were part of a CervicalCheck audit and that the audit had identified errors in original smear results. It meant the women were not necessarily offered the appropriate treatment, impacting prognosis and outcomes. This led to massive lawsuits[47] and a government inquiry. Quest and the Irish government continue to settle the resulting lawsuits.[48][49]

References
  1. "Quest Diagnostics Incorporated 2017 Annual Report (Form 10-K)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 2018.
  2. "Quest Diagnostic: Action from Insight 2019 annual report on Form 10-K" (PDF). Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  3. Herman, Holly. "Quest Diagnostics recalling many furloughed employees as routine testing rebounds". Reading Eagle. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  4. "International Facilities & Operations". Quest Diagnostics. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  5. "Our Growing International Presence". Quest Diagnostics. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  6. "Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. December 31, 2017. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
  7. "Annual Reports". Quest Diagnostics. December 31, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2016.
  8. "Quest Diagnostics celebrates 50 years". North Jersey. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  9. "A. Raymond Bessette, 82, investment banker, built skating rink". The Ridgefield Press. March 5, 2013. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  10. "Corning Glass To Buy Metpath". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  11. "History of Quest Diagnostics Inc". FundingUniverse. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  12. "Corning to Spin Off 2 Subsidiaries to Shareholders". The New York Times. Reuters. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  13. Nicolai, Kathryn (February 2018). "Kenneth W. Freeman college of management named after $25 million donation". The Bucknellian. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  14. "Kenneth W. Freeman Named Dean of SMG". BU Today. Boston University. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  15. "Quest Diagnostics Acquires Assets Of Diagnostics Medical Laboratory Inc". Quest Diagnostics. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
  16. Nouri, Paul (February 16, 2012). "Investors Should Wait Out Quest And LabCorp". Seeking Alpha. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  17. "A Guide to Being Compassionate During Layoffs". Harvard Business Review. February 25, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  18. "Compunet names new CEO". Dayton Business Journal. October 20, 2014. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  19. Reuters (April 16, 2007). "Quest Buying AmeriPath For $1.23 Billion". Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  20. "Surya N. Mohapatra". Columbia Business Schools. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  21. "DGX to Buy UMass Medical Lab (revised)". Yahoo! Finance. October 23, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  22. "Safeway, Quest Diagnostics bring testing services to 12 stores". Supermarket News. June 15, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  23. "Walmart partners with Quest Diagnostics to bring lab testing to 15 stores". pharmacist.com. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  24. Coombs, Bertha (May 26, 2018). "Here's why investors are cheering Quest and LabCorp losing their exclusive contracts". CNBC. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  25. "For Murphy, Quest Diagnostics ribbon-cutting is example of what can be". ROI-NJ. September 27, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  26. "Quest Diagnostics to relocate headquarters to Secaucus". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  27. "Quest Launches Patient-Initiated Testing to Address Changing Consumer Preferences". 360Dx. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  28. "QuestDirect". 360Dx. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
  29. Stankiewicz, Kevin (March 24, 2020). "Two large US private labs say they could soon process 300,000 coronavirus tests per week". CNBC. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  30. "Quest Diagnostics addresses testing capacity and lengthy turnaround times". KERO. July 28, 2020. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  31. "Ciphergen Biosystems and Quest Diagnostics Form Strategic Alliance to Develop and Commercialize Tests Using Ciphergen's Proteomics Technology". July 22, 2005. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  32. "Thermo Fisher to Buy Phadia for $3.5 Billion". DealBook. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  33. "Quest Diagnostics Successfully Completes Acquisition of Celera" (Press release). Celera Corporation. May 17, 2011. Archived from the original on July 9, 2011. Retrieved February 16, 2012.
  34. "Quest Diagnostics Acquires Solstas for $570M". News: Industry Watch (paper). 34 (4). February 15, 2014. p. 10.
  35. "Quest Diagnostics Completes Acquisition of Summit Health - Apr 21, 2014". Quest Diagnostics. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  36. Christ, Ginger (October 19, 2017). "Quest Diagnostics to acquire Cleveland Clinic spinoff Cleveland HeartLab". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  37. "Quest buying U.S. lab services unit from British firm". ROI-NJ. September 25, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  38. "Quest acquires BBPL's clinical lab services assets". ROI-NJ. February 12, 2019. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  39. "Quest Diagnostics Acquires Outreach Operations of Memorial Hermann Health System". 360Dx. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  40. "Businessman exposed problems with Quest subsidiary's blood test kits; led to $302 million settlement" (Press release). Phillips & Cohen LLP. April 15, 2009.
  41. "Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announces $241 million settlement with Quest Diagnostics" (Press release). State of California Department of Justice. May 19, 2011.
  42. O'Brien, Tim (May 2, 2018). "CervicalCheck 10-year timeline". The Irish Times.
  43. O’Regan, Eilish (May 2, 2018). "US company used by CervicalCheck had to pay €100,000 in fines over safety breach". Irish Independent. Retrieved May 12, 2018.
  44. HealthITSecurity (June 3, 2019). "11.9M Quest Diagnostics Patients Impacted by AMCA Data Breach". HealthITSecurity. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  45. Locker, Melissa (June 3, 2019). "A medical collections agency got hacked, and now your personal data might be exposed". Fast Company. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  46. "Bloomberg - Debt Collector Goes Bankrupt After Health Care Data Hack". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  47. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lab-companies-quest-and-cpl-at-center-of-lawsuits-in-ireland-over-missed-cervical-cancer-diagnoses/
  48. https://www.irishcentral.com/news/quest-diagnostics-cervical-cancer-scandal-lab-appeal.
  49. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/high-court/seriously-ill-woman-s-action-over-cervical-smears-adjourned-for-two-weeks-1.4457374
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