News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel

News, Analysis, Trends, Management Innovations for
Clinical Laboratories and Pathology Groups

Hosted by Robert Michel
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Class Action Lawsuit Filed in California Names Quest Diagnostics Incorporated as Defendant and Alleges Violation of Antitrust Laws involving Medical Lab Testing

Quest has not yet commented on the lawsuit, which was filed by three individuals who had clinical laboratory tests performed by the nation’s largest public lab company

In California last Thursday, three California residents filed a class action lawsuit charging Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) with acquiring competitor medical labs, paying kickbacks to physicians, and developing exclusionary agreements with health insurers to monopolize the market for clinical laboratory testing in Northern California.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the complaint cites violations of the federal Sherman Act and the California Unfair Competition Law, Unfair Practices Act, and the Cartwright Act on behalf of California residents Christi Cruz of San Jose, Colleen Eastman of Hollister, and Carmen Mendez of, Milpitas. All three plaintiffs have used Quest laboratories and paid Quest Diagnostics Incorporated of Madison, New Jersey, for those testing services, the complaint says.

Lawsuit About Clinical Lab Testing Services Filed in Federal Court

The complaint was filed in the court’s San Francisco Division. In the court papers, lawyers for the three plaintiffs explain that injury to competition is manifest in three ways: above-competitive prices, inferior quality of testing, and reduction in choice among providers of routine diagnostic testing. “There is ample evidence that Quest has controlled prices in the relevant market in Northern California since at least 2011,” the complaint explains. (more…)

California’s John Muir Health Closes Core Lab, Sells Its Clinical Laboratory Outreach and Reference Business to LabCorp

Laboratory Corporation of America gets 26 MuirLab Patient Service Centers (PSCs) in Northern California

Another hospital system is exiting the clinical laboratory outreach business. John Muir Health in Walnut Creek, California, agreed on Tuesday to sell its MuirLab business to Laboratory Corporation of America (NYSE: LH) in Burlington, North Carolina.

In the deal, LabCorp will take over and operate 26 MuirLab Patient Service Centers (PSCs) in parts of Northern California, including Contra Costa, Alameda, and Solano counties. In addition, LabCorp is purchasing the client list of office-based physicians and hospitals serve by MuirLab. LabCorp will also be the preferred provider of reference lab services for John Muir Health and its affiliates.

John Muir Health will retain its two hospital-based labs in Walnut Creek and Concord. Terms were not announced and the sale is due to close in November.

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