Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is an American
clinical laboratory. A
''Fortune'' 500 company, Quest operates in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Puerto Rico
; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, and
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
. Quest also maintains collaborative agreements with various hospitals and clinics across the globe.
As of 2020, the company had approximately 48,000 employees, and it generated more than $7.7 billion in revenue in 2019.
The company offers access to diagnostic testing services for
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
,
cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...
, infectious disease,
neurological disorder
Neurological disorders represent a complex array of medical conditions that fundamentally disrupt the functioning of the nervous system. These disorders affect the brain, spinal cord, and nerve networks, presenting unique diagnosis, treatment, and ...
s,
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
, and employment and court-ordered
drug test
A drug test (also often toxicology screen or tox screen) is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or saliva, oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent ...
ing.
History
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. In 1969, the company's name changed to MetPath, Inc. with headquarters in
Teaneck, New Jersey
Teaneck () is a Township (New Jersey), township in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a bedroom community in the New York metropolitan area. The town is know for their pancake throwing contest held ...
. By 1982, MetPath was acquired by what was then known as
Corning Glass Works and was subsequently renamed Corning Clinical Laboratories.
1996–2000
On December 31, 1996, Quest Diagnostics became an independent company as a
spin-off from
Corning.
Kenneth W. Freeman was appointed as
CEO during this transition. Over the next year, Quest acquired a clinical laboratory division of
Branford, Connecticut
Branford is a shoreline New England town, town located on Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, about east of downtown New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven. The town is part of the South Central Connecticut Planning Regi ...
–based Diagnostic Medical Laboratory, Inc. (DML). Two years later in 1999, Quest added
SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories to their subsidiaries; which includes a joint venture ownership with CompuNet Clinical Laboratory. The purchase of SmithKline Beecham also included the lab's medical sample transport airline originally founded in 1988.
In 1997, Quest and
Banner Health formed a joint venture creating the Arizona based Sonora Quest laboratory, a business unit of Laboratory Sciences of Arizona.
This entity represents the operations of Quest Diagnostics in the Arizona regional market.
2001–2015

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.
In response to Mohapatra's resignation after eight years with Quest, former Philips Healthcare CEO Stephen Rusckowski was appointed. 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.
2016–present
In 2016, Quest collaborated with
Safeway to bring testing services to twelve of its stores in California, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and Colorado.
By the end of 2017, Quest, in partnership with
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
, incorporated laboratory testing in about 15 of their locations in Texas and Florida.
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.
In September 2018, Quest moved its headquarters from Madison, where it was located since 2007, to
Secaucus, New Jersey.
In November 2018, Quest launched QuestDirect, a consumer-initiated testing service that allows patients to order health and wellness lab testing from home.
In March 2020, the company launched a
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
testing service. As of July 2020, Quest had performed more than 9.2 million COVID-19 molecular tests and 2.8 million serology tests.
In April 2024, Quest has added a new blood screening to their AD-Detect product line. This test will analyze the blood for a specific Alzheimer's protein, pTau-217.
In Febuaray 2025,
Fresenius Medical Care announced via Helen Giza (CEO, Chair of the management board and acting CFO) that "under terms of a definitive acquisition agreement, Quest will acquire select assets of FME’s wholly owned Spectra Laboratories, a leading provider of renal-specific laboratory testing services in the U.S."
In addition, under a separate agreement, "Quest will provide comprehensive laboratory services related to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and specialized water testing for patients and providers served by dialysis centers operated by Fresenius Medical Care and its wholly owned and joint-venture partners in the United States."
Acquisitions
Partnerships
* 2005: Forms a
strategic alliance
A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more Legal party, parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations.
The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aims for a synergy wh ...
with Ciphergen Biosystems to commercialize novel proteomic tests.
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
Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...
) settlement paid by a medical lab for manufacturing and distributing a faulty product. 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 California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is the California implementation of the federal Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, preg ...
, the state's
Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
program, and provided illegal kickbacks as incentives for healthcare providers to use Quest labs.
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
BowelScreen, BreastCheck and CervicalCheck are cancer screening programmes organised by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Republic of Ireland, Ireland.
BowelScreen
BowelScreen is the national Cancer screening#Colon (colorectal) cancer, bowel ...
,
Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
's national
screening program. 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 which led to lawsuits and a government inquiry. Quest and the Irish government continue to settle the resulting lawsuits.
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. AMCA provides billing collections services to Optum360, which in turn is a Quest contractor. AMCA later went bankrupt after the breach.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Medical technology companies of the United States
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
American companies established in 1967
Companies based in Hudson County, New Jersey
Secaucus, New Jersey
1967 establishments in New York City
Corning Inc.
Life sciences industry
Health care companies based in New Jersey
1982 mergers and acquisitions
Corporate spin-offs
Alzheimer's disease research