Apr 12, 2012 | Laboratory Operations, Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations
Many challenges ahead for Rusckowski because of healthcare’s unfolding transformation
Yesterday, after the stock markets closed, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) issued a press release naming Stephen H. Rusckowski as its new President and CEO. He will assume his duties on May 1, 2012. Quest Diagnostics is the nation’s largest clinical laboratory company.
Along with the appointment of its new President and CEO, Quest Diagnostics also announced that Daniel C. Stanzione, Ph.D., would become the Non-Executive Chairman of the Board for the Madison, New Jersey-based company. Stanzione has served as a Director on the Quest Board since 2004.
To ensure an orderly transition, Surya N. Mohapatra, Ph.D., the current Chairman, President, and CEO, will continue his duties through April 30, 2012. It was on October 25, 2011, when Quest Diagnostics disclosed a succession plan and stated that Mohapatra, now 61 years old, would serve for an additional six months as the company conducted its search for another CEO.
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Nov 14, 2011 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, Laboratory Sales and Marketing
Two Senate committees seem interested in how certain medical laboratories offer discounted laboratory test prices to selected health insurers
Is it a coincidence that discounted medical laboratory test pricing offered by the nation’s two largest clinical laboratory companies appears to now be the subject of interest for the Senate Judiciary and Senate Finance Committees? Last Tuesday, Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued a press release titled “Grassley, Baucus Scrutinize Practice by Health Insurers and Testing Labs.”
Baucus is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Grassley is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Together, these two Senators sent letters last week to two clinical laboratory companies and three big health insurance firms: (more…)
May 5, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology, News From Dark Daily
Record crowd of pathologists and medical laboratory managers learned about the latest trends in clinical laboratory management
Dateline: New Orleans, Louisiana—Day two of the 16th annual Executive War College (EWC) gave clinical laboratory managers and pathologists an insider’s view on the “Holy Trinity” of the ObamaCare legislation. The focus was on accountable care organizations (ACO), medical homes, and value-based purchasing.
As happened on day one, yesterday it was a sizable group that included medical technologists (MT), in vitro diagnostics (IVD) manufacturers, pathologists and lab entrepreneurs.
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Mar 31, 2011 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Conference on May 5 about clinical laboratory and pathology mergers and acquisitions
For owners and sellers of clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups in the United States, the past six months have been rosy times. That’s because buyers have stepped up and paid strong prices for the medical laboratory companies and pathology testing firms that came to market during this time.
Experts predict that merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the clinical laboratory industry will continue to be robust. Several factors reinforce this optimistic prediction.
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Feb 4, 2011 | Compliance, Legal, and Malpractice, Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Discloses Facts About Negotiations With Medi-Cal Officials to Resolve Claims Associated with Discounted Medical Laboratory Prices
In California, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) and several other pathology testing laboratories, including Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH), have found themselves caught in the twin jaws of a regulatory vice. At issue is the long-standing practice in the state of clinical laboratories offering discounted prices for medical laboratory tests that are less than prices paid by California’s Medi-Cal program.
One jaw of the vice is a high-profile whistleblower lawsuit that was filed in 2005, and unsealed by then-Attorney General Jerry Brown in April 2009. The suit claims that seven clinical laboratory companies violated state law over a 15-year period by charging certain customers less for medical laboratory tests than what the seven lab companies billed Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. The suit alleges that the Medi-Cal program was overcharged by hundreds of millions of dollars from medical laboratory test claims submitted by the defendant lab companies during this time.
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