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Quest Diagnostics' (DGX) New Pact to Reduce Food Insecurity

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Quest Diagnostics, Incorporated (DGX - Free Report) recently collaborated with Instacart to improve both food access and healthy eating habits for underserved communities across the United States. To reduce the impact of social determinants of health on care — Pack Health, a Quest Diagnostics company — is offering grocery delivery services via Instacart to those enrolled in its coaching programs.

Through this collaboration, both companies are offering user-friendly solutions that leverage Instacart's reach, scale, selection and technology to address social determinants of health and make nutrition guidance from experts like Pack Health actionable.

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Instacart Health uses the power of Instacart's platform, products and partnerships to increase access to nutritious food, promote long-term healthy behaviors and scale food as medicine initiatives nationwide. Health organizations can use Instacart Health's digital solutions to scale nutrition access and education programs that provide members with actionable, medically personalized nutrition advice and the convenience of same-day delivery.

A patient-engagement business — Pack Health focuses on treating chronic diseases and comorbidities holistically, taking into account lifestyle choices, mental health, SDOH and access to care. Pack Health will utilize Instacart Health Fresh Funds and category-specific grocery stipends in conjunction with tools that assist members in acting upon the nutrition advice provided by Pack Health Advisors.

Strategic Efforts

Through the integration of Instacart into Pack Health's initiatives, both companies will provide a complimentary range of services that are designed to improve individuals' access to food, nutrition education, and coaching support to help them develop healthy habits.

By working together, both companies may offer health plan members a comprehensive nutrition package. With this addition, Pack Health's initiatives now directly target the critical issue of nutritional food access for persons living in marginalized regions, in addition to providing information and behavioral coaching to encourage the adoption of healthy habits.

Through this partnership with Instacart, food insecure individuals registered in a Pack Health engagement program may receive same-day delivery of nutritious food tailored to their condition from local retailers via their health plan.

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Pack Health will also include weekly one-on-one coaching, shopping lists and recipes and personal support to help members reduce the effects of social determinants of health (SDOH).

Industry Prospects

Per a report by Grand View Research, the global patient engagement solutions market size was valued at $22.7 billion in 2023 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 17.7% from 2024 to 2030. Growing technological developments, adoption of EHR and mhealth solutions, the prevalence of chronic diseases, supportive initiatives by key market stakeholders and consumerism in healthcare are some of the key drivers of this market.

Other Notable Partnerships

In January 2024, Quest Diagnostics collaborated with Ultima Genomics — the developer of the revolutionary new ultra-high throughput sequencing architecture. Through the collaboration, the companies aim to improve patient access, affordability and outcomes by expanding the use of highly accurate, cost-efficient and high-volume whole genome sequencing in fast-growth areas, such as solid-tumor minimal residual disease (MRD) testing.

In November 2023, Quest Diagnostics entered into a multi-pronged collaboration with Scipher Medicine intended to expand patient access to diagnostic services, advancing precision medicine for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The collaboration leverages Quest Diagnostics’ sequencing and specimen collection expertise with Scipher's precision medicine technology.

Price Performance

In the past year, DGX’s shares have declined 6.8% against the industry’s rise of 14.3%.

Zacks Rank and Key Picks

Quest Diagnostics carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Stryker Corporation (SYK - Free Report) , Cencora, Inc. (COR - Free Report) and Cardinal Health (CAH - Free Report) .

Stryker, carrying a Zacks Rank #2, reported a fourth-quarter 2023 adjusted EPS of $3.46, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.8%. Revenues of $5.8 billion outpaced the consensus estimate by 3.8%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Stryker has an estimated earnings growth rate of 11.5% for 2025 compared with the S&P 500’s 9.9%. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 5.1%.

Cencora, carrying a Zacks Rank #2, reported a first-quarter fiscal 2024 adjusted EPS of $3.28, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.7%. Revenues of $72.3 billion outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.1%.

COR has an earnings yield of 5.75% compared with the industry’s 1.85%. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 6.7%.

Cardinal Health, flaunting a Zacks Rank #1, reported second-quarter fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings of $1.82, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 16.7%. Revenues of $57.45 billion increased 11.6% on a year-over-year basis and also topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.1%.

CAH has a long-term estimated earnings growth rate of 15.3% compared with the industry’s 11.8% growth. The company’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 15.6%.

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