Quest Diagnostics 2013 Annual Report Download - page 12

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Connectivity.
We offer connectivity solutions that provide more convenient ordering and reporting of diagnostic information
services, greater convenience in electronically prescribing medication and better access to information. We believe that our
connectivity solutions enhance the value we provide, help differentiate us from the competition and result in increased
customer loyalty.
The majority of diagnostic information that we provide is delivered electronically, including by taking advantage of
our Care360® products. These products, including Care360 Labs and Meds, enable physicians electronically to order
diagnostic testing and review test results from our Company and electronically to prescribe medication. Our Care360 Mobile
application allows physicians to review diagnostic information and order medications using their smartphones or mobile
devices. There is a large national healthcare provider network using Quest Diagnostics' Care360 connectivity products.
We also provide patients with tools to manage their healthcare and medical information. Our automated patient
appointment scheduling enables patients to schedule appointments, including via smartphones, at times that are convenient for
them while reducing or eliminating their waiting time. We also offer TestMinder,® which sends email reminders to patients
who require frequent testing, and Gazelle,® a secure mobile health platform that allows users to receive and archive their Quest
Diagnostics test results, manage their personal health information, find a Quest Diagnostics location and schedule appointments
directly from their smartphone.
Innovation.
We are a leading innovator in diagnostic information services. Our capabilities include early discovery, technology
development and clinical validation of diagnostic tests. We develop tests at our laboratories, such as Quest Diagnostics Nichols
Institute and Athena Diagnostics. Where appropriate, we collaborate with partners that can help us to achieve our vision of
empowering better health through diagnostic insights. Our partnership with the New York Giants professional football team,
devoted to finding new ways to use diagnostic information services to improve the health and performance of athletes of all
ages and abilities, is a good example of this.
We collaborate with leading academic centers and maintain relationships with advisers and consultants who are
leaders in key fields of science and medicine. For example, we collaborate with the University of California, San Francisco,
the nation's leading university focused exclusively on health, to accelerate the translation of biomedical research into advanced
diagnostics in the field of precision medicine. This collaboration has the overarching aim of enabling holistic and integrated
diagnostic solutions that close gaps in care or enable new clinical value, with initial focus areas including autism, oncology,
neurology and women's health. In addition, we collaborate with other key groups and organizations to foster important
advances in health care. Our collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") to improve
public health analysis of hepatitis C screening, diagnosis and treatment, based on analysis of our national hepatitis C virus
("HCV") diagnostic information, and our participation in studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (e.g., NIH
National Children Study) are good examples of this.
Our medical and scientific experts publish research that demonstrates the clinical value and importance of diagnostic
testing, including in connection with our research and development efforts. In 2013, they authored approximately 150
publications, including about 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals, that provided insights into diagnostic testing, introduced
novel diagnostic approaches benefiting patients or provided the latest thinking in laboratory testing and disease diagnosis.
They also help to shape the latest thinking as the authors of textbooks, or chapters therein, used by academic institutions to train
healthcare providers. Our experts also participate on scientific committees determining guidelines for diagnostic usage in a
number of fields, such as HIV, HCV and testosterone testing.
We successfully transfer technical innovations to the market through our relationships with technology developers,
including the academic community and pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, our in-house expertise and our collaborations,
including with emerging medical technology companies that develop and commercialize novel diagnostics, pharmaceutical and
device technologies. For example, in 2013 we introduced access to a new non-invasive cell-free fetal DNA screening test
developed by Natera, a leading innovator in prenatal genetic testing. We search for new opportunities and continue to build a
robust pipeline of new solutions. Through our strengths in assay development and the commercialization of test services, we
believe that we are the partner of choice for developers of new technologies and tests to introduce their products to the
marketplace.
We seek technologies that help doctors care for their patients through better predisposition, screening, monitoring,
diagnosis, prognosis and treatment choices. We seek to develop tests that help to determine a patient's genotype or gene