Quest Diagnostics Incorporated will provide strep and urine cultures and other select laboratory testing services for free to qualified patients served through the Take Care Recovery Plan, which is an offer announced by Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems, to provide free health care services at Take Care Clinics.
The offer is available to qualified patients, including Take Care Clinic patients, and their immediate family members, who lose their job on or after March 31, 2009, and are uninsured. The offer runs through the end of the year.
"Quest Diagnostics recognizes that many American families are struggling to afford quality laboratory testing services during the current economic downturn," said Steve Burton, vice president, Health and Wellness Services, Quest Diagnostics. "Our participation in the Take Care Recovery Plan will help more patients to access our laboratory testing services. We look forward to participating in the Take Care Recovery Plan, which will extend the range of financial assistance programs Quest Diagnostics has long provided to patients grappling with financial hardship."
"Like Quest Diagnostics, Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems recognize that financial hardships are forcing many individuals to choose among basic necessities such as health care, housing and food," said Hal F. Rosenbluth, president of Walgreens Health and Wellness division and chairman of Take Care Health Systems. "Quest Diagnostics’ generous offer to provide laboratory testing services for free to qualified Take Care Clinic patients will help more individuals benefit from Quest’s exceptional lab testing services and meet the basic health care needs for them and their families."
Through its participation in the Take Care Recovery Plan, Quest Diagnostics will provide routine laboratory testing services for conditions within the clinic’s scope of services when point-of-care testing is not available. Based on prior experience serving Take Care Clinic patients, Quest Diagnostics expects the vast majority of the free testing services it will provide through the Take Care Recovery Plan to be cultures for strep throat and other respiratory ailments and full urine cultures to detect infections of the bladder or urinary tract.
In addition to its collaboration with Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems, Quest Diagnostics provides a range of financial assistance and payment plan options to its patients. For example, Quest Diagnostics offers financial assistance that includes reduced-fee or free laboratory testing services for patients who can demonstrate that they cannot afford to pay for the entire cost of services. The company also provides payment plan options to patients, including those with health plan coverage. For more information on qualifications for financial assistance and payment plans, visit QuestDiagnostics.com/PatientAssistancePrograms.
For more information on the Take Care Recovery Plan and to determine qualification, including accessing applicable forms, call (866)825-3227 or visit them online.
Source: Quest Diagnostics Inc
