Quest Diagnostics has acquired select assets of Steward Health Care System's outreach laboratory services business serving patients and physicians in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Quest's lab in Pittsburgh will provide testing for physicians and patients previously serviced by outreach labs operated by Steward in parts of Pennsylvania and Ohio. Those labs will gradually convert to Quest over the next two months.
Steward will continue to operate inpatient and outpatient labs at Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, Ohio, and Sharon (Pa.) Regional Medical Center "with no disruption or change" to any business entities or service lines, a spokesperson for Steward's Ohio and Pennsylvania regions told Becker's.
Quest will also acquire assets from the lab business serving Hawthorn Medical Associates in Dartmouth, Mass., pending transfer of the lab license.
Financial details of the transactions were not disclosed.
"This transaction delivers on our strategy to serve the evolving needs of health systems, which increasingly seek to entrust their critical laboratory services to our expertise so they can focus on their core care missions," Jim Davis, chair, CEO and president of Quest, said in a Jan. 9 news release. "This acquisition also aligns with our strategy to grow through accretive outreach laboratory acquisitions and expands our ability to serve providers and patients in Ohio and Pennsylvania."
Steward is a 33-hospital-system, headquartered in Dallas, that operates facilities across Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana and Massachusetts.
The health system has a long-standing relationship with Quest, which has provided outreach lab testing services to physicians and other providers affiliated with Steward's Massachusetts hospitals for nearly 15 years.
"This transaction will enable Steward to focus on its core care mission while ensuring providers and patients have continued access to high quality, innovative and cost-effective laboratory services," a Steward spokesperson said in a statement provided to Becker's.
In the last two years, several health systems have sold certain lab assets to restructure operations, reduce costs, expand lab partnerships or in exchange for a valuable cash infusion.