Quest Diagnostics and Northern Light Health Form Strategic Laboratory Collaboration to Improve Access to Affordable Diagnostic Services in Maine

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Dec 08, 2022, 16:07 ET

Quest to acquire Northern Light Health's outreach laboratory business and professionally manage nine of its hospital laboratories

SECAUCUS, N.J. and BREWER, Maine, Dec. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, and Northern Light Health, a large integrated healthcare system in Maine, today announced a strategic laboratory collaboration designed to broaden access to innovative, quality and cost-effective laboratory services powering affordable care for communities in Maine.

Under a definitive agreement, Quest will acquire select assets of Northern Light Health's outreach laboratory services business, named Northern Light Laboratory, in an all-cash transaction. Quest will also provide professional laboratory management services for nine of Northern Light Health's hospital laboratories, along with its cancer center laboratory at Northern Light Cancer Care in Brewer, Maine.

Northern Light Health selected Quest Diagnostics following a competitive bid. The parties expect to complete the transaction in the first quarter of 2023. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Assuming the transaction's completion, the collaboration will enable physicians and patients throughout Maine to benefit from access to Quest's industry-leading and highly innovative test menu, network of patient access sites throughout the state, broad health plan coverage, and lower out-of-pocket costs for many services. Quest's state-of-the-art laboratory in Marlborough, Mass. will provide non-urgent advanced and routine clinical testing for physicians and patients now serviced by Northern Light Laboratory. A Quest rapid response lab in the Bangor, Maine area and select Northern Light Health hospital labs will perform tests requiring rapid results.

"Diagnostic testing is a highly specialized and rapidly evolving area of medicine. By collaborating with Quest Diagnostics, the industry leader, Northern Light Health positions itself to deliver the highest level of diagnostic innovation, service and affordability while energizing our core focus on patient care," said Timothy J. Dentry, president and CEO of Northern Light Health.

"Diagnostic insights are the bedrock of quality, high-value healthcare. Through our clinical expertise, technological innovation and national scale, Quest enables top health systems like Northern Light Health to optimize their laboratory services for clinical value and patient affordability," said James E. Davis, CEO and President of Quest Diagnostics. "Our collaboration with Northern Light Health reflects our goal to broaden access to these critical diagnostic insights, so more people and families in Maine can lead healthier lives."

About Quest Diagnostics

Quest Diagnostics empowers people to take action to improve health outcomes. Derived from the world's largest database of clinical lab results, our diagnostic insights reveal new avenues to identify and treat disease, inspire healthy behaviors and improve health care management. Quest annually serves one in three adult Americans and half the physicians and hospitals in the United States, and our nearly 50,000 employees understand that, in the right hands and with the right context, our diagnostic insights can inspire actions that transform lives. www.QuestDiagnostics.com.

About Northern Light Health

At Northern Light Health, we're building a better approach to healthcare because we believe people deserve access to care that works for them. As an integrated health delivery system serving Maine, we're raising the bar with no-nonsense solutions that are leading the way to a healthier future for our state. Our team members—in our hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, long-term and home healthcare, and ground and air medical transport and emergency care—are committed to making healthcare work for you: our patients, communities, and employees. To learn more about Northern Light Health and our locations across Maine, visit www.northernlighthealth.org.

SOURCE Quest Diagnostics