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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Sep 15, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Price of 2.5 times revenue makes this a high price for a clinical laboratory
Monday, Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) agreed to purchase Genzyme Genetics Corp’s. (NASDAQ: GENZ) fetal genetics and oncology testing division for $925 million in cash. Genzyme has shopped its neo-natal genetic testing business since last year.
LabCorp is paying a purchase price that is 2.5 times Genzyme’s $371 million in annual revenue. This is one of the highest prices paid for a clinical pathology laboratory company since Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), paid about 2.5 times revenue for Ameripath, Inc. in March 2007. In that transaction, Quest Diagnostics paid about $2 billion for Ameripath, which had annual revenues approaching $800 million at the time of sale.
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Sep 3, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Meanwhile, both Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp report second quarter declines in specimen volume
Fewer patients visiting physician offices during second quarter 2010 is considered to be one reason why specimen volume declined at clinical pathology laboratory testing giants Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) and Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) during that three-month period.
For second quarter, LabCorp reported a 2% decline in specimen volume, along with a 4.2% increase in revenue. At Quest Diagnostics, the specimen volume decline was 1.3% and revenues declined by 1.4% in the second quarter 2010, compared to second quarter 2009.
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May 24, 2010 | Laboratory News, Laboratory Pathology
Laboratory Corporation of America will also acquire Diamond Reference Laboratory
Last week, financially-troubled Westcliff Medical Laboratories, Inc., of Santa Ana, California, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy action in federal court. The news was disclosed to Westcliff clients in a letter signed by Westcliff’s Chairman and CEO. Even as this news became public, Westcliff announced that its assets would be acquired by Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH), subject to approval by the bankruptcy court.
In a separate transaction, LabCorp is acquiring Diamond Reference Laboratory of Diamond Bar, California. Diamond Reference Laboratory has estimated annual revenue of $10 million. Westcliff Medical Laboratories reported annual revenue of $97 million for 2009. When these two clinical laboratory acquisitions close, LabCorp will have picked up a 5% increase in its share of California’s estimated $2 billion laboratory testing market.
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Apr 12, 2010 | Laboratory Pathology, Management & Operations, News From Dark Daily
Pathologists and clinical lab executives will hear perspectives from 80 speakers at the upcoming Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management
For any pathologist or clinical laboratory executive interested in the future of the lab testing industry, there will be plenty of insights at the upcoming 15th Annual Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Management April 27-28 at the New Orleans Sheraton Hotel. Leading a line-up of 80 speakers are David King, CEO of Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) and Thomas Grogan, M.D., Founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of Roche Ventana Medical Systems.
There’s lots of optimism about the future of laboratory testing. That’s because genetic and molecular testing is giving pathologists new tools to more precisely diagnose disease and determine appropriate therapies. LabCorp’s David King, will speak to how lab test data is the linchpin in the drive to more tightly integrate clinical care in ways to lift patient outcomes.
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