Quest Diagnostics 2011 Annual Report Download - page 38

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(j) Changes in federal, state or local laws or regulations, including changes that result in new or increased
federal or state regulation of commercial clinical laboratories, tests developed by commercial clinical
laboratories or other products or services that we offer or activities in which we are engaged, including
regulation by the FDA.
(k) Inability to achieve expected benefits from our acquisitions of other businesses.
(l) Inability to achieve additional benefits from our Six Sigma and efficiency initiatives.
(m) Adverse publicity and news coverage about the clinical testing industry or us.
(n) Computer or other IT system failures that affect our ability to perform tests, report test results or
properly bill customers, or result in the disclosure of confidential information, including potential
failures resulting from the standardization of our IT systems and other system conversions,
telecommunications failures, malicious human acts (such as electronic break-ins or computer viruses) or
natural disasters.
(o) Development of technologies that substantially alter the practice of clinical test medicine, including
technology changes that lead to the development of more cost-effective tests such as (1) point-of-care
tests that can be performed by physicians in their offices, (2) esoteric tests that can be performed by
hospitals in their own laboratories or (3) home testing that can be carried out without requiring the
services of clinical laboratories.
(p) Negative developments regarding intellectual property and other property rights that could prevent, limit
or interfere with our ability to develop, perform or sell our tests or operate our business. These include:
(1) Issuance of patents or other property rights to our competitors or others; and
(2) Inability to obtain or maintain adequate patent or other proprietary rights for our products and
services or to successfully enforce our proprietary rights.
(q) Development of tests by our competitors or others which we may not be able to license, or usage of
our technology or similar technologies or our trade secrets by competitors, any of which could
negatively affect our competitive position.
(r) Regulatory delay or inability to commercialize newly developed or licensed products, tests or
technologies or to obtain appropriate reimbursements for such tests.
(s) Impact of any national healthcare information network or the adoption of standards for health
information technology interoperability that are incompatible with existing software and hardware
infrastructure requiring widespread replacement of systems and/or software.
(t) Inability to promptly or properly bill for our services or to obtain appropriate payments for services
that we do bill.
(u) Changes in interest rates and changes in our credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s Investor
Services or Fitch Ratings causing an unfavorable impact on our cost of and access to capital.
(v) Inability to hire and retain qualified personnel or the loss of the services of one or more of our key
senior management personnel, including failing to replace our Chief Executive Officer before he
terminates employment.
(w) Terrorist and other criminal activities, hurricanes, earthquakes or other natural disasters, and health
pandemics, which could affect our customers, transportation or systems, or our facilities, and for which
insurance may not adequately reimburse us.
(x) Difficulties and uncertainties in the discovery, development, regulatory environment and/or marketing of
new products or new uses of existing products.
(y) Failure to comply with the requirements of our Corporate Integrity Agreement that could subject us to
suspension or termination from participation in federal healthcare programs and substantial monetary
penalties.
(z) Failure to adapt to changes in the healthcare system and healthcare delivery stemming from the 2010
federal healthcare reform legislation.
(aa) Results and consequences of governmental inquiries.
(bb) Trends in utilization of the healthcare system.
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