Quest Diagnostics to Eliminate as Many as 600 Jobs

Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX), the biggest U.S. operator of medical labs, said it will eliminate as many as 600 management positions as the company restructures into two business groups.

Trimming the workforce will save about $65 million, the Madison, New Jersey-based company said in a statement today. Quest has about 42,000 employees.

One group, dubbed diagnostic information services, “will include the vast majority of the company’s revenues” and replace the physician services, hospital services and cancer diagnostics businesses, Quest said. The unit will be responsible for developing and delivering tests, information and services. The diagnostic solutions group will make test kits, as well as provide insurance and employer testing services, said Gary Samuels, a company spokesman, in a phone interview.

The structural changes are scheduled to take effect by January, with the positions being eliminated by the end of 2013, Quest said.

Quest rose less than 1 percent to $63.95 at 10:01 a.m. New York time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net