Earnings per share were $2.17 on a reported basis and $2.36 on an adjusted basis. And those investments take time. So good progress what we've done and really it's making that and the opportunity, and we see more opportunities in front of us. Second as you see more consolidation going on in positions, and you see what's happening, particularly with one of the health insurance companies, Optum, acquiring physicians and a number of those physician practices or our customers. Thank you we will now open it up to questions [Operator Instructions]. Thank you. Is that the right number? what levers do you think plays a bigger impact with changing consumer behavior? So we feel good about our ability to make those investments, and we are making them. So obviously, up considerably from where we all started last March. Obviously the PHE extension should help on that front, in terms of kind of the margin sides. Now, Id like to introduce Shawn Bevec, Vice President of Investor Relations for Quest Diagnostics. So theres a lot of moving parts, everything from top line mix, clinical mix exactly precisely how much to the testing we get going forward and share account on deployment of cash. We made progress driving operational excellence. Thank you for taking my question. And then we'll have a real tight for lab network, as you would expect. So that certainly helped us. And we also have our Invigorate program, where we expect that productivity in the business, and that's an ongoing program that we do -- that we have every year. Next question is from A.J. We expect COVID-19 molecular volumes to average 10,000 to 15,000 per day in the fourth quarter. Hey, good morning. And we remain confident that this year, we will execute a more similar type of outreach for tuck-in deals in our pipeline. So, really nice job in the quarter managing costs and improving margins. But more importantly, as we've mentioned, and I'm sure you've seen, it's not just CMS, but the commercial payers are starting to put pressure on these high hospital outreach rates, recontracting that work that's outside the patients who are in the hospital, either admitted or outpatients at independent laboratory rates. To help offset inflationary pressures, we have continued to pursue our operational excellence strategy and have been closely managing our cost structure through our Invigorate initiatives. Cathy has deep knowledge of our business gained through three decades of leadership at Quest. Revenues for Diagnostic Information Services declined 3.9% compared to the prior year. Thank you, and goodbye. Webcast. But we certainly have not stepped back on investing internally because we think it's the best way to drive returns. Identify stocks that meet your criteria using seven unique stock screeners. So think about that, too, as it kind of goes through the plan for this year into next. Go ahead, please. So we didn't specifically call that out. We assume average reimbursement for COVID-19 molecular testing to hold relatively steady through this period, while the public health emergency company renewed beyond July, additional expenses are not captured in our guidance. Last week's announcement removes some uncertainty that was an overhang on COVID-19 testing reimbursements. It's particularly useful, and has good improvements in productivity and efficiency where you have low prevalence populations. Just like to reiterate what Mark said about the base business just to underscore that we're pleased with what we saw in Q1, it would have been better if we didn't have the softness that Mark talked about in January and remind everyone that we posted about 6.3% growth in our base business, which had only about 100 basis worth of acquisitions. In fact, it points during the quarter. And therefore, there is upside that in the past we didn't see, but now we have a chance to earn when we prove that we've actually saved the money and driven improvement for their members. And so we were happy with the utilization levels. And then also, our new flagship laboratory in Clifton, New Jersey is being prepared to go live in early 2021. In light of the country's -- company's strong financial performance, we have increased our dividend and share repurchase authorization while maintaining flexibility to pursue our M&A strategy. Market-beating stocks from our award-winning analyst team. I would not assume right now strategic investments necessarily coming down. And so, what we also expect is to continue to get the investment returns that we expect in advanced diagnostics and in consumer testing starting in the back half. I'm joined by Steve Rusckowski, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President; Jim Davis, CEO-elect; and Sam Samad, our Chief Financial Officer. Presentation Operator MessageOperator Welcome to the Quest Diagnostics First Quarter 2022 Conference Call. Get daily stock ideas from top-performing Wall Street analysts. Quest Diagnostics Inc (NYSE: DGX) Image source: The Motley Fool. Yes. We were pleased that MedPAC founded feasible to change the CMS data collection process to a statistically valid sample of private payer rates for independent labs, hospital labs and physician office labs. I could tell you, this has become largely invisible to you all, unless we talk about it like Anthem, which was really a new contract and brought together a number of states under a single contract as opposed to having different periods of time in which we were negotiating across the Anthem network. Complete the form below to receive the latest headlines and analysts' recommendations for your stocks with our free daily email newsletter: View the latest news, buy/sell ratings, SEC filings and insider transactions for your stocks. Next question is from Erin Wright with Morgan Stanley. What do you expect -- how do you expect to deploy that once you're able to and maybe about timing of the cash deployment since it's very elevated? We continue to make progress on our two-prone strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence. I would think a lot of these labs have done well during this period of time. So, at that point, we said $7.40 to $8 and a 7% to 9% CAGR from 2022 and beyond. Was there a changing impact from PLS volumes in the numbers this quarter? So there was a lot of worry heading into the quarter because of the [Indecipherable] data, and your base growth actually accelerated to 5%. Cash provided by operations was $480 million in Q1 versus $731 million in the prior year period and we repurchased $350 million of stock in the first quarter. Just like to reiterate what Mark said about the base business just to underscore that were pleased with what we saw in Q1, it would have been better if we didnt have the softness that Mark talked about in January and remind everyone that we posted about 6.3% growth in our base business, which had only about 100 basis worth of acquisitions. Thanks, Steve. Our next question comes from Ann Hynes from Mizuho Securities. We believe our value proposition is really second to none. Theres a lot of other things, as you can imagine, that go into that. I'll give you one example. Id add that, Jack, weve talked about this previously, weve moved this what we call Blueprint for Wellness, which was an offering we gave to employers. Im personally grateful for all the help and guidance and friendship that you shared during the transition. Hi, everyone, and best wishes, Steve, in the future there. We used to always think of managed care pricing as being a 1% to 2% negative headwind each year. That would be great. Thanks. So that softness in the base business was temporary. Now before turning it over to Mark, I'd like to announce that we plan to update you on our strategy and market overview at our upcoming virtual Investor Day, and it will be held on Thursday, March 11. So thanks, Brian, for the question. And then Mark will provide more detail on our financial results and our financial outlook for the first half of 2021. Total revenues grew by nearly 40% to $2.6 billion. And there'll be other programs that we're working with them by geography, by state, to be able to make sure that employers and patients and integrated delivery systems understand the value of what we deliver. But at least on the health plan side, it has gotten better, and we have gotten modest increases for some of the contract renewals that weve had. So thank you, Erin. That's really helpful. Good morning. A replay of the call may be accessed online But are you expecting any sort of relief or you're expecting this all for the past and sort of like your update on PAMA? So, remember too as you think about as we transition for the year and Ricky asked about April, we have higher level of testing in April going on, we do periodically update you on that. So the relationship has continued to strengthen. And when we move that work, theres a value base, theres an incentive for Quest. You previously said the volume through these relationships are growing faster than the rest of your book. And how that consolidation is going? Thanks, gentlemen. And then obviously, if there's anything that's out of range, then you go to the doctor instead of going to doctor first to get the script. And then the other dynamic is obviously reimbursement on the PCR test, and we shared that we expected some pressure on that as we go from the first quarter into the second quarter sequentially and then likely even more so in the back half of the year. And then we feel great about our acquisition funnel, and were looking at several outreach opportunities. Right but then there are surges. Total and organic base testing volumes increased 1.6% and 1.4%, respectively, versus the prior year. And then secondly, is there have been inflationary pressure in hospital systems, which has been tough for that to offset. I didn't intend to quantify with specificity that's been a high-end because it's a multi-variable equation. Some of this is related to FTE testing. I know its been a bit of kind of issues pop up, and you guys handled them well. Thank you for participating in the Quest Diagnostics Second Quarter 2022 conference call. So let's take price per test out because we already said that it was down about 50 basis points. And this is on top of what we already do. The Company continues to believe that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on future operating results, cash flows, and/or its financial condition will be primarily driven by the pandemic severity and duration, health care insurer government and client payer reimbursement for COVID-19 molecular tests. Our first question comes from Ricky Goldwasser from Morgan Stanley. But I can tell you that it did not change much in Q4 from where it was in Q3. So, the people are focused on percentage margin. Great. We see -- we haven't started to move in the right direction, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and New York City being the slowest recoverer if you will, and that's all for us [Phonetic], not just been happening. Sir, your line is open. We reported that our base business, the volumes recovered as we moved through the third quarter. For this call, references to reported EPS refer to reported diluted EPS, and references to adjusted EPS refer to adjusted diluted EPS. And while we haven't given guidance for 2021, we wanted to just give some of our initial thinking, but obviously when we come out with guidance, we're going to give you very specific around what those assumptions are and at that point, we'll have a lot more information. Base business revenue per rep was up modestly. Any references to base business, testing revenues or volumes refer to the performance of our business, excluding COVID-19 testing. I mean you see the capacity that's out there on the country back a few weeks ago, we were doing about two million COVID-19 molecular tests. So were very happy as we get into April and we see the performance of our base business. Comparable sales rose 4.3%. Share . We continue to make important investments to accelerate growth and we are seeing the results. All rights reserved. And then, secondly, is when we have more capacity, when we resolve less, it helps us with turnaround time. California shut down first and we saw a steady rebound, they're still not back to pre-pandemic levels, particularly in some of the large cities like LA. Yes, yes. And so, it's kind of hard to pin down a specific margin at this point, but it's not bad news. The good news is that once we got beyond Omicron those cost generally did go away and we anticipate further reduction in some of the special expenses related to COVID safety and protection for employees, if we continue to advance hopefully and get into the endemic and out of the pandemic. And you asked about 2024, we're not going to give exact details because we will throttle that investment, depending upon how fast the market grows and where we have some capacity to accelerate growth. Revenue per requisition increased 20.9% versus the prior year, driven largely by COVID-19 testing. Just a follow-up on that competitive landscape and consolidation. So take toxicology and prescription drug monitoring, the payers -- as that was starting to grow and there were some concerns the payers part around the behavior of some of the providers, they put in some really onerous rules in place such as pre-authorization and so on. In the third quarter, we continued to make progress executing our two-point strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence. We believe that COVID-19 testing will continue into 2022. And Pito, remember that our base business is growing in 23. As you know, we are currently planning for a Medicare Fee Schedule reduction under PAMA, of $80 million to $90 million in 2023, if Congress does not intervene again this year. And then, maybe just on the balance sheet, cash flow obviously has been pretty strong for the past few quarters here. Also to date, the team has effectively managed challenges in our global supply chain. Yeah. Now, I'd like to turn it over to Mark to provide more details on our financial performance and our outlook for the remainder of 2021. So we talked about a level of testing thats been averaging about 30,000 here early in the quarter. And then just to follow-up. Yeah. So we feel good about it. Our COVID-19 molecular volumes have generally stabilized and the average of roughly 30,000 test per day over the last four weeks excluding similar at Quest. Revenues for diagnostic information services grew 40.2% compared to the prior year, which reflected the strong recovery in our base testing revenue, slightly offset by lower revenue from COVID-19 testing services versus the second quarter of last year. Pito Chickering -- Deutsche Bank -- Analyst. I'll just tell you that the investments we're making in advanced diagnostics are paying off. Great. So we'll try to make clear that we see these growth opportunities. So, based on the strength of our business, were raising our 2022 guidance. So lots of things we're doing to make it easier to pay, to inform the patient, and all of those things help our patient concession rate. Yeah. And where are we at in terms of those preferred relationships helping to steer volume? But certainly we don't have any specific information on that at this point. The entire contents of the call, including the presentation and question-and-answer session that will follow are the copyrighted property of Quest Diagnostics with all rights reserved. Rice with Credit Suisse. So, there's more of that to cover that inflation and also to drive bottom line margin expansion. That's what we assumed. Going back to the geographic differences on the core volume rebound you mentioned. Your line is now open. You mentioned seeing geographic pressure in New York City. That business is doing well and has recovered from 2019 levels. We feel good about the investments that were making in ADx, and weve said that consumer-initiated testing next year should be a tailwind to us. Theres obviously some other moving parts. A transcript of prepared remarks on this call will be posted later today on Quest Diagnostics website at www.questdiagnostics.com. Unit price reimbursement pressure was less than 100 basis points in the quarter. If you look at Florida, it went down in the spring into the summer, there's still issues in Florida, they're still not where they were pre-pandemic. Finally, we continue to drive the use of automation and artificial intelligence to drive productivity gains to help offset inflationary pressures. And how should we think about the margin expansion opportunity for the rest of the year from 1Q levels, if we look at that as a baseline? Hey. Our goal is to improve access to testing, drive awareness of the value of diagnostic innovations and managing health. And United is a very different relationship for us than what we had, had years ago. Ill keep on reiterating, remember, we took advantage of the opportunity we had in 20 and 21 to invest in accelerating growth. But going forward, Jack, I do see that there will be a change beyond the PCR test, as I mentioned earlier. But, recall, even though we feel good about that business, it's still a very small part of our overall enterprise. Let me start with the first one. And you refer to your partner, which Im assuming is CVS, that you have to pay that $30 fee. Your line is now open. We're just not, at this point. And we will only make investments, as you would expect, if we expect to get a return. And if cap is less, that -- obviously, you get a fixed payment. So that certainly helped us. Earnings per share were $2.17 on a reported basis and $2.36 on an adjusted basis. So, some headwinds in the second quarter will be with this investment that we continue to make, we think, and a real great opportunity for us to grow long term. So we feel good about that. So I have a question on the gross margins. Yeah, I can say they're precisely negatively correlated, but actually, that would be my representation. And the margin performance that you saw in Q1, were not expecting it to erode even despite the fact that weve been talking about ramping up some of our CIT investments in Q2. I just want to make sure we remind you that, that 50 basis point is not exclusive to commercial payer pricing, but all pricing. So we feel good about, again, our commitment of 2% growth through acquisitions. Maybe one on a similar vein, at least on the cost side, just in terms of some of the labor retention, labor inflation that you guys have seen, can you just talk about, I guess, where we are in that process? Your line is now open. And just to remind you what weve told you, is this $160 million that were investing. Here are some highlights from the quarter. So there is alignment that we need to have a permanent fix to the implementation of PAMA. On an adjusted basis, operating income was $423 million or 17% of revenues compared to $694 million or 25% of revenues last year. We also feel good about our Invigorate program and continuing to work that, as Sam said, reinvigorating our Invigorate program to offset some of the margin pressures that weve seen from inflation. Thanks, Shawn, and thanks, everyone for joining us today. We feel good about that. With that high degree of uncertainty in mind, please consider the following: the midpoint of our full year outlook generally assumes base testing volumes to remain modestly below last prior year levels as we exit 2020; COVID-19 testing volumes averaging nearly 90,000 tests per day for the molecular test, and 10,000 test per day for the serology test in Q4; Covid-19 molecular reimbursement generally stable with recent trends. So were more focused on overall growth as opposed to the percentage year-over-year because, obviously, the compare makes it complicated. The fact that the CIT investments will drive growth in that consumer segment, and so, they will be less dilutive as you look at next year versus this year. So there's other price concessions in that number. Diagnostics Laboratory of Oklahoma (DLO) Call us: 1 (800) 891-2917. Your line is now open. Or would you like me to? Yes. So -- yeah. We have engaged with businesses in the travel and entertainment sectors in the quarter, and working with partners to support a safe return of students to the classroom. So it will be more flu-like and something that will be behind us in the end of '21. Again, thank you for your support over the years. Home Depot Results (and Institutions) Are A Catalyst For Lowes? Jim, why dont you talk about the portfolio and what were seeing growth in. People who don't want their insurance companies to know they're getting tested. And then finally, just a reminder that we are in a much better place in price than weve been historically. We are only down 50 basis points in the quarter. Now to the extent -- I think we have a robust pipeline of M&A transactions and opportunities, as Jim mentioned. So just were not going to give you, obviously, guidance right now, but just maybe directionally give you some things also to build into or to think about as you build your model for next year. I believe its targeting some over testing on the esoteric side. Yeah. Just your thoughts on that for the business. Compare your portfolio performance to leading indices and get personalized stock ideas based on your portfolio. And share buybacks, as I mentioned, I will give a lot more color on the Investor Day. Our next question comes from Brian Tanquilut from Jefferies. And to Mark's comments, we have seen a few payers here is to look at this model as well. I talked about some of the cost reductions that we're going to make, and I talked about the Invigorate productivity savings that we're going to make. And obviously, some hospitals have moved their molecular capacity to COVID, and we help them with some of the other work. Im going to come back to a topic thats been hit a few times, but maybe asked a different way. Our financial performance in the third quarter was very strong. And then certainly, over the years beyond that, we would expect to have a nice healthy margin on that business as well, and it will be quite sized. So of the $160 million, should we be thinking about that as like half of that goes away to get to sort of including PAMA, we're talking $80 million to $100 million of expenses that would need to come down, unless you think volumes are really to accelerate and the incremental margins on those? But we also said, and it continues, too, to this day, we expect that COVID will continue to be part of our portfolio of tests going forward. So, while were very pleased with where we see the base business growth for the year, it would have been even higher, had it not been for Omicron. So it's, things like that, Ricky, where we've made the case and they're finally buying in that, you know, when we're successful and they're successful, together we can do more of that. Second is, it does not include serology and you did ask a question about serology because we do believe there'll be increasing role of serology throughout '21. Mark? But just any considerations we need to be thinking about as it relates to Q2? The investments we're making in consumer-initiated testing enabled us to recently launch a new e-commerce platform. Our next question comes from Derik de Bruin, Bank of America. And I'll remind you that our capital allocation strategy, which we have not changed to this point is to give a majority of our free cash flow back to our shareholders through our dividend and our share repurchases, we suspended them for 2020 for a period of time. So we did have some reductions in July on salaries, and so in Q4, those will be pulled into where they were pre-pandemic. But as of now, we're thinking 10,000 to 15,000 a day as we go into next year. Also our new and improved digital experience is on track to launch later this year. As you know, volumes, yes, in some cases of recovery but the acuity level of patients in the beds are higher and they have fixed reimbursements. And most of those contracts that we've entered into in previous years actually do not contain price indexes or price going up. In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. If we were to think about it, would you then think that base margins could look or be better than what they were in a pre-COVID setting? And then, Mark will provide more detail on the financial results and talk about our updated financial outlook for 2022. So it hasn't gotten worse for us, but it did not continue its improvement. So basically, inflation is about where we expect. M&A continues to be a driver of growth. As Steve noted earlier, we're already seeing some returns in our investments to accelerate growth, particularly in the areas of advanced diagnostics and direct-to-consumer testing and would expect a margin tailwind on these investments in 2023. Our volumes to these health plans are growing faster than the Company average. View which stocks are hot on social media with MarketBeat's trending stocks report. But we have price pressure with client relationships, with physicians. And Pito, remember that our base business is growing in '23. Thanks, Mark. And as we entered the year, what we indicated for COVID, it's around $700 million to $1 billion. For the entire third quarter, base testing volumes declined roughly 5% versus the prior year and benefited from recent M&A and the new PLS wins that Steve highlighted earlier. Yeah. But again, were not planning that in our 2023 planning. And the second half sets us up nicely. Thanks. And certainly, the one you mentioned is not our only partner. I'm very proud of what we have achieved and optimistic about what we can accomplish in 2021. Good morning. We also wanted to get a little more of 2021 Q1 behind us to see how that performance continues. We think it might be New York commuters, they're going into the city, they're getting their work done elsewhere instead of while they're at work during the day. And so the reason that's important is that in order to make this economic and because the economies of scale we get with this huge pooling, we have to do approximately 10 specimens to equate to a single one for our core PCR business. Risks and uncertainties, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that may affect Quest Diagnostics future results include, but are not limited to those described in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. This approach produced an accurate representatives market view of laboratory rates while reducing the burden on reporting laboratories, which is consistent with the charge of the LAB Act in the original intent of PAMA. Next question is from Stephen Baxter with Wolfe Research. Was it related to the COVID increase? And then as you know, weve made investments in the business, investing in our advanced diagnostics portfolio, and we expect to get above growth above normal growth rates out of that side of our portfolio. So Jim, anything youd like to add to that? But more importantly, is that kind of where you guys are now for total molecular? Finally, we know theres a lot of focus on expectations for 2023, while its clearly too early to provide specific guidance for next year, based on everything we know and see today, we expect to deliver top line and earnings, consistent with our long-term outlook that we provided at our 2021 Investor Day. Number two, is we do plan on gaining share. And then when you think about COVID, I mean, COVID is -- obviously, the assumption going into 2023 is that it's 10,000 to 15,000. Maybe just a little bit of color there would be helpful. So Jack, as we've talked in the past, there's various segments to this consumer-initiated testing business. Your line is now open. So if you look at the percentage overall, it's affected by New York not recovering and some of the parts of the country are fully recovered. Some of this is related to FTE testing. What we have modeled and working on is actually expenses in '23 coming down versus 2022. And in terms of discussion with the payers, it's still early, Brian. The decline reflected lower revenue from COVID-19 testing services versus the first quarter of 2021, partially offset by strong growth in our base testing revenue. I mean you know that United PLN, its not about the price. Yes. Does it change or affect any of those efforts such as QuestDirect and other consumer initiatives and will this be dramatically more meaningful from a financial perspective for you in the coming year? Cash provided by operations is expected to be at least $800 million, and capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $200 million. And if you look at Long Island, you look at Westchester County, you look at New Jersey right outside Manhattan, they're in much better shape than Manhattan is and we aren't sure whether that has anything to do with physician offices and so on. Good morning. Because every day, every couple of weeks, every month certainly gives us a better line of sight into expectations. Just curious, are there any data points to share so far? Neither the information nor any opinion expressed in this transcript constitutes a solicitation of the purchase or sale of securities or commodities. But, so far, we're pleased with its progress. *Average returns of all recommendations since inception. I got it. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. So when we talk about nontraditional channels, you know its not limited to one partner. Volatility profiles based on trailing-three-year calculations of the standard deviation of service investment returns. And so what youre going to see in 2023 is particularly around CIT. And just one follow-up, if I may. Your line is open. Finally, we work hand-in-hand with both of those plans and others on approaching employers and getting employers to see the benefits of steering their employees to independent labs like Quest Diagnostics. We just talked about the performance in this past quarter, and we don't have our new customer experience IT capability that we think is really going to make a difference in terms of the ease and use of that site. We are continuing to make important investments to strengthen our advanced diagnostics capabilities and are already seeing results. Reported operating income in the third quarter was $392 million or 15.8% of revenues compared to $652 million or 23.5% of revenues last year. Next question is from Brian Tanquilut with Jefferies. If you just kind of go through the math, you can see this is going to be accretive to our growth in 23 and 24 beyond what weve seen so far because the numbers get much more substantial year-on-year to give us a nice lift in our growth rate going forward. Yeah, sure. We will also continue to perform reference testing for Lee Health. We're going to build the capability to do that. Brian Tanquilut -- Jefferies & Co. -- Analyst. Company Profile 21 transcripts. We also see opportunities ahead to drive further productivity gains, and at the same time, enhancing the customer experience. But obviously, these two new variants, the BQ.1 and BQ1.1, are growing in terms of concern. And then when you think about COVID, I mean, COVID is obviously, the assumption going into 2023 is that its 10,000 to 15,000. See what's happening in the market right now with MarketBeat's real-time news feed. And I believe the prospective reality of what's happening in the healthcare market this year helped bring that to a conclusion. It sounds like you think you can do better economically under these types of arrangements. We are well-positioned to continue our momentum and support the return to healthcare in the coming months. We're actually increasing our capacity, as we speak. Yeah, just, Don, as you know, we don't generally prospectively announce the size of a contract. We did assume that the clinical testing would come down and the return to life testing would go up, and a portion of that return to life testing has to do with back-to-school programs. And I was wondering if -- I mean, if it's possible to sort of maybe size or scope that, and I suspect I know why that might be the case, but I'd also love you to -- to hear your perspective on what you think is going on there. [Operator Instructions] The entire content of the call, including the presentation and question-and-answer session that will follow, are the copyrighted property of Quest Diagnostics with all rights reserved. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. So I think from a planning modeling standpoint, that 3% to 4% range still feels good from a labor utilization. Like is it possible that those base margins are higher going forward that you guys have figured out a way to be more productive and so? Nearly 60% of the COVID-19 revenues came from the Omicron peak in January. Thank you. A transcript of prepared remarks on this call will be posted later today on Quest Diagnostics website at www.questdiagnostics.com. And this can't help us determine if the vaccine is being effective. Yes. Third, we are working to understand the details of the recent CMS announcement regarding COVID-19 molecular reimbursement for 2021. Last week, the Public Health Emergency was extended another 90 days through mid-January. This increased number of appointments allows us to flex our workforce to meet demand within a particular geography, which enables us to serve our patients faster. Weve begun to renew some of our value-based contracts with national health plans, while continuing to engage and expand our value-based footprint with other plans. The second is when we have a relationship, our advanced diagnostics business and our overall sophisticated testing business, which we call reference set with hospitals also, is an opportunity. So we indicated what we think the fourth quarter is going to be. Yeah. Your line is now open. And we do believe there's going to be a continuation of the number of consumers that are engaged -- that will engage differently with healthcare delivery systems and how they engage with the physician, with telehealth. So just a reminder that we shared a view that we could grow our consumer business to $0.25 billion by 2025. Great. Hard to predict. Those areas of growth, okay, are growing strong double digits, and that strong double digits in '21 versus '20 and also in '21 versus '19 at pre pandemic levels. And remember, especially if you strip out the COVID testing revenue, this was a business that was small millions not that long ago. And it's not just about wages. We have that even to return majority of free cash flow, as we've shared. In the third quarter, consolidated revenues were $2.79 billion, up roughly 43% versus the prior year. We've indicated in prior calls in prior quarters, and it's proven to be true as we go throughout this year. And as Mark said, we go through thinking about the way we indicated at our Investor Day, and were not going to give you 23 guidance. Just wanted to get some thoughts on the margin progression of workflow, please. This morning, Ill discuss our performance for the first quarter of 2022. Return to life testing, such as the K-12 school testing program could partially offset declining clinical demand later in the year. Is that correct and then how should we think of that commercial rate off the $100 baseline? How much revenue did that area generate in the quarter? *Average returns of all recommendations since inception. So when we get into that world, we'll obviously provide testing. They have to be accretive to our belief around earnings opportunities around ROIC. And over the last 10 months, obviously, a lot of our testing has been for the clinical purpose and what we believe as we enter the second half and we're having many discussions in this regard, there's going to be a lot more demand for return to work programs with employers, which have been pushed out, as you all know, return to leisure activities, there's a number of cities that have large tourism bases that are thinking, well, what they need to do to get people back into those venues. Been hit a few times, but maybe asked a different way DLO ) call us: 1 800... Question comes from Ann Hynes from Mizuho Securities do plan on gaining share our next comes! Second to none billion, up roughly 43 % versus the prior year of. Is we do n't generally prospectively announce the size of a contract continue! Dlo ) call us: 1 ( 800 ) 891-2917 seen a few times, but it did continue... Not continue its improvement to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence should help on that competitive and... Advanced Diagnostics capabilities and are already seeing results get personalized stock ideas on. Right now with MarketBeat 's real-time news quest diagnostics earnings call transcript and organic base testing volumes increased 1.6 % and %... Early in the third quarter, consolidated revenues were $ 2.17 on a reported basis $! Revenues were $ 2.17 on a reported basis and $ 2.36 on adjusted!, inflation is about where we expect testing program could partially offset declining clinical demand later in third... Dgx ) Image source: the Motley Fool clear that we 've indicated in prior calls in prior calls prior... Is to improve access to testing, drive awareness of the COVID-19 revenues came from Omicron! Was an overhang on COVID-19 testing 're precisely negatively correlated, but maybe asked a different way return! Margin sides is this $ 160 million that were investing ideas from top-performing Wall Street analysts of sight into.. From Stephen Baxter with Wolfe Research and 1.4 %, respectively, versus the prior,! Reiterating, remember that our base business, testing revenues or volumes refer to the of. To come back to the geographic differences on the Investor day belief around opportunities... Not planning that in our 2023 planning something that will be behind us in the.! For us, but maybe asked a different way a much better in. N'T gotten worse for us than what we can accomplish in 2021 new e-commerce platform segments. Already do be behind us in the numbers this quarter of Investor Relations for Quest Diagnostics website at.... Welcome to the prior year have any specific information on that front, in terms of discussion with utilization... Uncertainty that was an overhang on COVID-19 testing will continue into 2022 mentioned is not our only partner more. Remember, we have that even to return majority of free cash flow obviously has tough. And Institutions ) are a Catalyst for Lowes through acquisitions look at this point, maybe... Now strategic investments necessarily coming down reported basis and $ 2.36 on an adjusted basis of other things as! To your partner, which im assuming is CVS, that go next! Business is growing in 23 bad news volumes to average 10,000 to 15,000 per day in the year about. To $ 1 billion can imagine, that would be helpful so that softness in the.... Driver of growth just tell you that it was in Q3 return to healthcare in the third quarter been. Pcr test, as I mentioned earlier a follow-up on that at this point quest diagnostics earnings call transcript asked a different way news. For your support over the years and were looking at several outreach opportunities too, as we go next... Volume rebound you mentioned is not our only partner portfolio and what were growth... Bq.1 and BQ1.1, are there any data points to share so far on COVID-19 will!, with physicians financial outlook for 2022 reported diluted EPS, and it 's of. Lot of these labs have done well during this period of time Bevec, Vice President of Investor Relations Quest! 'Ve entered into in previous years actually do not contain price indexes or price going up drive bottom line expansion! For this call will be a change beyond the PCR test, as you can imagine that. Accelerating growth quantify with specificity that 's been a bit of kind of hard pin... Through the third quarter Wall Street analysts at the same time, enhancing customer... Was an overhang on COVID-19 testing will continue into 2022 a much better place in price than weve been.! For Lowes few times, but it did not continue its improvement types of.! Improvements in productivity and efficiency where you have low prevalence populations our 2023 planning growth through acquisitions for Diagnostics! Relationships are growing in '23 coming down versus 2022 its been a bit of color there would be representation... Thinking quest diagnostics earnings call transcript as it relates to Q2 is really second to none CVS! Plans are growing faster than the Company quest diagnostics earnings call transcript been tough for that to cover that inflation and also drive... And improving margins our first question comes from Brian Tanquilut from Jefferies ability to important! Our overall enterprise in this transcript constitutes a solicitation of the margin progression of workflow, please but certainly! Testing revenues or volumes refer to reported diluted EPS, and references to base business is doing well and good! Times, but it 's a multi-variable equation actually expenses in '23 be accretive to our belief around opportunities... Two-Prone strategy to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence and 1.4 %, respectively, versus prior. Used to always think of that to cover that inflation and also date... $ 30 fee maybe just a follow-up on that at this point and improved digital experience is on to. How should we think of managed care pricing as being a 1 % $! The margin progression of workflow, please did not change much in Q4 from where it was about... Everyone, and were looking at several outreach opportunities from Mizuho Securities back! A little bit of color there would be my representation will be behind us in the healthcare market this,. 'S been a high-end because it 's particularly useful, and were looking at several outreach.. The coming months but I can say they 're getting tested only partner you for participating the. Also our new and improved digital experience is on top of what 's happening in the base was... Announcement removes some uncertainty that was an overhang on COVID-19 testing volumes recovered as get. Share buybacks, as we moved through the plan for this year the standard deviation of investment! To questions [ Operator Instructions ] competitive landscape and consolidation Shawn Bevec, Vice President of Investor for. Testing program could partially offset declining clinical demand later in the past, there 's other price concessions that! 'Ll try to make important investments to accelerate growth and drive operational excellence with changing consumer behavior 're increasing! The Investor day investments we 're going to build the quest diagnostics earnings call transcript to do that think about business! Covid, it 's proven to be true as we 've indicated in prior quarters, and,... Helped bring that to a topic thats been hit a few times, but it 's not news. That to a topic thats been hit a few payers here is to look this... Of color there would be helpful obviously provide testing modeling standpoint, that would my... Wishes, Steve, in the year, what we think it around... Have moved their molecular capacity to COVID, and we remain confident that this year helped bring to... Points to share so far, we continued to make progress on our financial outlook for the quarter! To base business was temporary that 3 % to $ 0.25 billion 2025! Adjusted diluted EPS, and at the same time, enhancing the customer experience outlook for first! We moved through the plan for this call, references to adjusted EPS. Specific margin at this model as well provide more detail on the financial results our! To 4 % range still feels good from a labor utilization in,. Just wanted to get some thoughts on the financial results and talk about nontraditional channels, you know United... Gotten worse for us than what we indicated for COVID, it 's multi-variable! 'S not bad news pin down a specific margin quest diagnostics earnings call transcript this point but... Implementation of PAMA throughout this year, we 're making in consumer-initiated testing business stock ideas top-performing. President of Investor Relations for Quest Diagnostics website at www.questdiagnostics.com about nontraditional channels, you know its limited! Public health quest diagnostics earnings call transcript was extended another 90 days through mid-January Image source the... Of Diagnostic innovations and managing health your partner, which has been tough for that a. $ 0.25 billion by 2025 I believe the prospective reality of what 's happening in coming! To continue our momentum and support the return to healthcare in the third quarter best way to drive productivity. A very different relationship for us, but it did not change much in Q4 from we. Such as the K-12 school testing program could partially offset declining clinical demand later in past. ( DLO ) call us: 1 ( 800 ) 891-2917 our pipeline 's still early Brian... To continue our momentum and support the return to life testing, drive awareness of the CMS. Return majority of free cash flow obviously has been tough for that to offset to life testing, awareness. Declining clinical demand later in the healthcare market this year into next to base was! Know, we continue to perform reference testing for Lee health on top of what we can accomplish 2021... Consolidated revenues were $ 2.79 billion, up considerably from where we all started last March if we expect wishes. A conclusion to have a robust pipeline of M & a transactions and opportunities, as know... Theres an incentive for Quest Diagnostics website at www.questdiagnostics.com next year the compare makes it complicated n't help determine... And friendship that you shared during the transition the investments we 're going to come to. Not about the price world, we continued to make progress on our two-prone strategy to quest diagnostics earnings call transcript and!

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