Abbott has announced a $21 billion deal to acquire Exact Sciences, which could accelerate early cancer detection, expand at-home testing, and reshape the diagnostics landscape globally.
Abbott announced on Nov. 20 that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Exact Sciences, a move that would expand its presence in the rapidly growing cancer diagnostics market and potentially reach millions more patients. The deal values Exact Sciences at around $21 billion, with shareholders set to receive $105 per share.
If approved, the acquisition would give Abbott control of one of the most influential diagnostics portfolios in the industry, including Cologuard, Oncotype DX, and a growing lineup of liquid biopsy technologies aimed at earlier cancer detection and more precise treatment guidance. The transaction positions Abbott as a key player in the $60 billion U.S. cancer screening and precision oncology market, one of the fastest-growing sectors in healthcare.
The combination of Abbott’s scale with Exact’s oncology innovations underscores a broader shift in the clinical diagnostics market: prevention, early detection, and home-based testing are rapidly evolving from niche innovation strategies into mainstream commercial imperatives. That is a development that clinical lab professionals and pathologists must watch given Abbott’s interest.
The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to Abbott’s revenue growth and gross margins, with Exact projected to generate more than $3 billion in revenue this year and sustain high-teens organic growth.
Abbott Chairman and CEO Robert B. Ford noted, “Exact Sciences’ innovation, its strong brand and customer-focused execution are unrivaled,” Ford said. (Photo credit: Abbott)
Exact Sciences CEO Kevin Conroy echoed the sentiment, calling the acquisition an opportunity to expand earlier detection and broaden access worldwide.
Positioning Screening as Part of Primary Care Services
Industry observers agree the deal has vast implications—whether or not it ultimately closes. Consultant and principal at Natel, Eliad Josephson, described in a post on LinkedIn the moment as “a pivotal shift” for the entire ecosystem. “Diagnostics is on fire with Abbott potentially taking over Exact Sciences,” Josephson wrote in a shared analysis.
Josephson highlighted Exact’s strong at-home screening franchise, anchored by Cologuard, and its strategic fit with Abbott’s global reach and deep ties to primary care. Abbott’s footprint in clinics and retail settings could embed cancer screening more deeply into routine visits, transforming the “front door” of care by making early detection more accessible.
“The ability to shift screening into primary care is huge,” Josephson explained.
He added that if Abbott accelerates adoption of Cologuard and next-generation blood-based screening tests, payer coverage and health system integration could move faster than previously expected, reshaping reimbursement and care pathways.
Beyond the U.S., Abbott’s international presence could propel Exact’s products into new markets far more rapidly than the company could manage alone. With cancer incidence rising globally—affecting more than 20 million people each year—expanding access to early detection tools represents both a commercial opportunity and a major public health imperative.
Navigating Cultural and Operational Hurdles
Still, Josephson cautioned that integration will not be straightforward. He pointed to cultural and operational differences between device-centric organizations like Abbott and lab-centric ones like Exact, as well as regulatory timelines and reimbursement uncertainties.
“Will this be easy? No,” he wrote. “Integrating these models is not easy. But regardless if the deal closes, this moment signals where diagnostics is heading.”
Industry stakeholders—from labs and payers to health systems and investors—will need to reassess how they position themselves in a world where cancer detection is increasingly decentralized, data-driven, and integrated into everyday healthcare.
The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. If approved, Exact Sciences will operate as an Abbott subsidiary, maintain its Madison, Wisconsin presence, and have CEO Kevin Conroy remain in an advisory role to support the transition.
For now, the industry is watching closely.
As Josephson put it: “Scale matters. Outcomes matter. At-home access matters. Preventive screening is becoming mainstream.”
This article was created with the assistance of Generative AI and has undergone editorial review before publishing.
Amazon Pharmacy kiosks aim to close the gap between prescription and patient. Labs can learn how to reduce delays and improve impact.
An alarming number of U.S. prescriptions never make it into patients’ hands. Recent data from a GoodRx survey found that 28% of Americans had a prescription sent to the pharmacy that was not filled.
In early October, according to an article from CNBC, Amazon announced it is taking another step into the U.S. healthcare market with the launch of prescription drug kiosks at select One Medical offices in Los Angeles, a move the company says will “remove a critical barrier” to care and could disrupt traditional pharmacy chains.
The kiosks, operated by Amazon Pharmacy, function “similar to a vending machine,” dispensing medications “within minutes” of a patient’s doctor visit, according to the company. Each kiosk “can stock hundreds of prescriptions, such as antibiotics, inhalers and blood pressure treatments,” with inventory customized to meet local demand.
What Labs Could Learn from Amazon’s New Kiosk Model
Amazon’s recent move is more than a pharmacy innovation—it potentially offers a model labs could adapt or draw inspiration from. The key idea is bringing the point of fulfillment closer to the point of care. If patients can leave a clinic with their medication in hand, many hurdles disappear: the extra trip to a pharmacy, delays in insurance coverage, or even forgetting to pick up the prescription.
For lab leaders, this suggests several key takeaways:
Reduce handoffs and delays: Amazon is aiming to reduce the delay between prescribing and dispensing; labs can look at ways to shorten the time between performing tests and delivering results or follow-ups.
Tailor inventory and /or capacity: Amazon’s kiosks are “tailored to specific locations,” meaning that the stock reflects local prescribing patterns. Labs could similarly adapt resources (staffing, assay panels, supply inventory) to match demand more closely.
Enhance the patient experience: Removing friction at the pharmacy level improves medication adherence; labs strengthen the final steps of their work (communication, result delivery, patient follow-ups, etc.) can improve trust, accuracy, and utility of lab results.
Integrate technology and workflow: Amazon uses QR codes, remote pharmacist checks, and app workflows. Labs can take a look at digital interfaces, remote consultations, or point-of-care tools to make their processes more seamless.
Recognizing how many prescriptions are unfilled and why, whether due to cost, access, or timing, can help lab leaders apply similar strategies in their own operations.
“By bringing the pharmacy directly to the point of care, we’re removing a critical barrier and helping patients start their treatment when it matters most—right away.” (Photo credit:ContactOut)
The rollout comes as Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens face mounting pressures, including “falling drug margins” and growing competition from online retailers like Amazon and Walmart. Rite Aid recently “closed all of its remaining stores after more than 60 years in business,” while CVS and Walgreens “have also shuttered locations in recent years.”
Amazon has been steadily expanding its healthcare presence over the past several years. It acquired online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 for about $750 million, launched Amazon Pharmacy in 2020, and bought primary-care provider One Medical in 2022 for $3.9 billion.
The first kiosks will appear in downtown LA, West LA, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, and West Hollywood, with plans to expand “soon after” to additional One Medical offices and other sites. “Over time, we see real potential for this technology to extend to other environments—anywhere quick access to medication can make a difference,” McClellan said.
As a result, health system-based clinical laboratories likely saw a decline in test orders as well a decrease in outreach revenue
Bad financial news continues in the hospital industry. According to an August 2023 National Hospital Flash Report from consulting firm Kaufman Hall, hospitals’ financial performance deteriorated in July, partly due to declines in inpatient and outpatient volumes and rising bad debt and charity care.
The implication from these findings is that hospital-based clinical laboratories saw a drop in test volume and any lab revenue associated with inpatient testing.
In an analysis of data from more than 1,300 hospitals, Kaufman Hall noted a dip in hospitals’ median calendar year-to-date operating margin from 1.4% in June down to 1.3% in July. The data also showed “a greater pullback in volume on the outpatient side, which may be attributed to patients choosing not to pursue elective procedures during the summer,” a Kaufman Hall news release stated.
Kaufman Hall’s National Hospital Flash Report by Erik Swanson, Senior Vice President, Data and Analytics, and Brian Pisarsky, Senior Vice President, Strategic and Financial Planning, is an analysis of actual and budget data—sampled from Syntellis Performance Solutions—which is representative of hospitals of various sizes and areas in the US.
“It’s clear that today’s challenging financial environment is here to stay, and hospital leaders must be proactive in seeking out opportunities to refine their operations and remain competitive,” said Erik Swanson, Senior Vice President, Data and Analytics, Kaufman Hall, in a news release. Clinical laboratory leaders would be wise to follow the same advice. (Photo copyright: Kaufman Hall.)
Expenses Declined, Bad Debt and Charity Care Rose
Here are other national data Kaufman Hall reported for July 2023 as compared to June 2023:
Adjusted discharges per calendar day dropped 7%.
Operating room minutes per calendar day declined 13%.
Emergency department visits per calendar day fell 1%.
Bad debt and charity care as a percentage of hospitals’ gross operating revenue was up 7%.
Purchased service expense per adjusted discharge was down 3%.
Labor expense per adjusted discharge also fell 3%.
Even though expenses slightly declined during July, patient volume decreases “pulled down” the margins, Healthcare Innovation reported, which called the report “a gloomy one.”
Also, the uptick in bad debt and charity care while volumes decreased created a “difficult situation for hospitals,” Medical Economics observed.
Here are the report’s “key takeaways,” according to Kaufman Hall:
All volume indicators were down, but operating margins were still better than 2022.
Outpatient volume decreased more than inpatient, possibly due to patients choosing not to have elective procedures during the summer.
The decline in expenses was “not enough to offset revenue losses,” and inflation will continue to take its toll on labor expenses.
Medicaid has been “disenrolling” members in 30 states during June and July, and bad debt and charity care have increased.
The report also called out need for improvement in providers’ discharge of patients to skilled nursing facilities. “Hospitals that prioritize care transitions to skilled nursing facilities are performing better than institutions [that] do not,” Swanson said in the news release.
“Identifying steps that can ensure a smooth transition, such as obtaining pre-authorizations and planning discharge early, will help organizations reduce expenses and improve patients’ experience,” he continued.
For Hospitals, 2023 Not as Bad as 2022
MedCity News pointed out that though July’s operating margin index decline followed four months of growth, hospitals are still way ahead of 2022 performance when median operating margins were -0.98% in July 2022.
Still, it appears hospitals are struggling to secure financial footing after 2022, an overall bad financial year for the hospital industry.
More recently, a 2023 Becker’s Hospital CFO Report compiled a list of 81 hospitals that had cut jobs since the start of the year in response to “financial and operational challenges.”
Included was Tufts Medicine in Burlington, Massachusetts. In August, the hospital “eliminated hundreds of jobs” in an outsourcing of lab outreach services to Labcorp. The Becker’s report noted that “[Tufts] said it will work with Labcorp to have the majority of affected employees transition to a similar position with Labcorp.”
Tips for Clinical Lab Financial Viability
Medical laboratory leaders need to help ensure financial health of their labs as well as quality and efficiency of services. Advice from Kaufman Hall may be applicable.
The report writers advised providers to secure payer authorizations before a “patient comes in the door.” For clinical labs, this is comparable to the need to secure insurance company authorizations for expensive genetic tests before samples are taken and tests performed.
Another tip from Kaufman Hall is to “collect and use data to inform process improvement” and “make change.” Along those lines, medical laboratories could leverage patient data to guide launch of new services, entry to markets, workflow improvement, and costs reduction.
