March 1, 2007
Laboratory Corporation of America has been notified by Aetna that their contract has been terminated. LabCorp will no longer be a contracted laboratory provider for Aetna beginning July 1 of this year.
This is the latest in a series of steps of exclusive deals between clinical labs and insurance companies. Last October LabCorp negotiated an exclusive relationship with UnitedHealth and did the same with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in January, which shut Quest Diagnostics out of those contracts.
Quest is likely to announce soon that it has an exclusive national contract with Aetna, one of the five largest health insurance companies in the United States.
[Source: www.darkdaily.com]
