Quest Diagnostics rolls out return-to-work services

Quest Diagnostics Chief Medical Officer Jay Wohlgemuth joins Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani and Akiko Fujita to discuss Quest Diagnostics' move to roll out return-to-work services.

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: Well, as companies begin to prepare for the return of workers to the office space, Quest Diagnostics is helping to ensure the workplace is safe. And we are joined today by Jay Wohlgemuth. He is Quest Diagnostics' chief medical officer. Anjalee Khemlani also joining in on the conversation. Jay, you had a big announcement today, essentially rolling out this new service for the workplace. Walk us through what exactly Quest Diagnostics is doing to make sure workers are, number one, safe and healthy, but also feel comfortable in the workspace they return to?

JAY WOHLGEMUTH: Sure. Thank you. Yeah, we've been hard at work on this actually for several months. And that's because as the pandemic was unfolding, there are segments of our industry in the US that needed to be at work. And those were health care workers, Quest Diagnostics phlebotomists, those working on vaccines and therapies, et cetera.

And so now we're turning to, you know, the broader needs as we reopen, and that is to provide applications and data that help people engage, provide PCR testing for the virus, antibody testing, but also on-site services for our employers to help make their worksite safe.

And then on the back end, telemedicine services for those employees that need care. And so we've put that together, you know, both for the current go-to-work, but also as we reopen to help, you know, many companies figure out how to create a safe return to work.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: This is Anjalee here. And I know that we had a discussion about, you know, antibody testing, which is one of those things that's being offered and sort of the usefulness of it and what its purpose and role is in the reopening. There have been some debates about, you know, how it can be properly utilized. So how is Quest utilizing it?

JAY WOHLGEMUTH: Right. You know, the debate-- part of the debate is around accuracy. And it is absolutely critically important to ensure that if you're using an antibody test for a return-to-work program, let's say, that it is a highly specific and validated assay. And so that's the first part. And there are over 190 applicants to the FDA for antibody tests, so that's not to be taken lightly. And so we verify and only use high specificity testing.

At the same time then in a workplace program, I'll put it to you this way. If you're able to identify in a working population that you're bringing back to a workplace individuals who have been infected and have recovered from SARS-CoV-2, that group-- once you've determined that they no longer have the infection, that group is much less likely to bring the virus into the workplace. And also, that group does not necessarily need the same level of surveillance as a person who has not seen the virus before.

And so we're not saying-- and companies are not saying-- I haven't seen anyone say the antibodies should be used to determine who comes back, but it does-- it can help in a significant way as you're dealing with the population to have a program that everyone comes back, but it might have less likelihood of virus coming in and less surveillance required, you know, in that antibody positive group.

And that's-- just a side note, that is most useful when the rate of infection in the community or in the employer's community is high. If the infection rates are very low and antibody rates are low, it's a less useful tool in these return-to-work programs.

AKIKO FUJITA: Jay, you know, we're hearing a lot of offices, a lot of companies talking about similar measures they'd like to implement. You mentioned things like obviously testing, number one, but also temperature checks, you know, also making sure that they have technology in place where they can monitor to make sure people are six feet apart. You know, we just went through two months of a pandemic where essentially people were not able to get a hold of a lot of these supplies. What does the supply chain look like for some of these crucial elements that are necessary to reopen these offices?

JAY WOHLGEMUTH: Yeah. I mean, I think there's the testing side of that, which we're in a much different place on relative to the capacity of testing required. We can talk about that. But on the-- you know, there's an awful lot around not just the testing but to your point how to open a safe workplace, and what about the elevators, and what about the cleaning, and what about the salad bar, you know?

But in that effort, certainly the temperature checking services are important. And, frankly, people shouldn't be coming to work ever anyway with a fever, right? And so I think that is a valuable reminder to everyone about, you know, not coming to work sick. And, frankly, that's what we see that enabling.

On the supply chain around the return to work and the reopening, I actually think we also are in a very different place as a country relative to our supplies of hand sanitizers, protective gear, and we've had some time, several months working very hard to be sure that we have temperature monitoring equipment, et cetera. So I'm feeling like we're in a good place relative to the supply chain for the physical reopening.

AKIKO FUJITA: That's certainly a lot of comfort for workers who are now looking down the road of when they return to their office space. Jay Wohlgemuth, the chief medical officer over at Quest Diagnostics. Thanks so much for joining us. And our thanks to Anjalee as well.