Stephen Rusckowski on healthcare policy
From COVID-19 testing volume has 'come down,' Quest Diagnostics CEO says · · Yahoo Finance
“We put in place the Affordable Care Act. We've had substantial cuts in how we get paid by Medicare in this industry. And then finally, as we just spoke, we just came through the pandemic. So it's been three big changes within healthcare delivery.”
On , Stephen Rusckowski, Former Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer at Quest Diagnostics, spoke about healthcare policy during COVID-19 testing volume has 'come down,' Quest Diagnostics CEO says on Yahoo Finance.
About Stephen Rusckowski
In a January 2023 interview, Rusckowski stated that Quest Diagnostics' COVID-19 testing volume had "come down" from its peak, though the company remained prepared for a potential increase. He described the prior decade as "remarkable," citing the Affordable Care Act, Medicare payment cuts, and the pandemic as major changes in healthcare delivery. Rusckowski noted that Quest Diagnostics represents "about two percent of health care costs in this country" but provides "about 75 percent of the information" used in clinical decision-making. He also said the company had "bent the cost curve" for its own employees, with 95 percent seeing no increase in healthcare payments. In a July 2021 interview, Rusckowski reported that Quest Diagnostics' COVID-19 testing revenue was "considerable" in 2020, exceeding $2 billion, and that testing volume had declined in the first half of 2021 before a slight increase linked to the delta variant. He stated that the majority of the company's positive COVID-19 tests at that time were delta variants, identified through next-generation sequencing provided to the CDC. Rusckowski also said the company was working to improve serology tests to distinguish between antibodies from vaccination and natural infection.