What can Solstas employees expect?

Shared from a post on the Quest Diagnostics message board:



The amount of business being acquired with the Solstas buyout is relatively equal to volume currently tested in Tucker. I've been through both labs and can tell you they are relatively equal in technology and capacity with Tucker having better workflow.

The Tucker lab will not close. Quest will transition Solstas clients in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama over to Tucker, GA, pretty quickly. The Birmingham lab will become a STAT lab.

Quest will transition Solstas business in FL to the Florida BU.

Quest will transition Solstas business in KY to the north.

Quest will transition Solstas business in Maryland and parts of Virginia to Chantilly.

Quest will leave Greensboro open, scale it back and use it to service North Carolina and South Carolina only. Greensboro will then sendout the same testing that Tucker currently sends out to California and other Quest sites. Greensboro will mirror Tucker but on a much, much smaller scale. Quest will eventually lose a lot of the acquired Solstas business through attrition and will then further scale back the Greensboro lab. Greensboro will be a RRL in 3 years.

Spectrum Air will go away.

90% of Solstas couriers and vehicle fleet will go away within 3-6 months.

Quest will transition Solstas offices off Atlas and CareEvolve within 3-12 months. Quest will not pay third party companies to use their technology when they already own Care360.

Quest will re-evaluate all Solstas phlebotomist accounts for profitability. >30% of Solstas Phlebotomist's will be downsized or hours reduced within 6 months. Solsas Team Leads are gone within 3 months. Most Solstas phlebotomy Supervisors are gone within 3 months.

Quest will consolidate billing systems, review all Solstas pricing and adjust pricing upward for many of the Solstas clients who have ridiculously low, below COT pricing in place.

Quest will close Solstas PSC's throughout the region. 80% of Solstas PSC's will close within 6-12 months.

I could go on and on but you get the picture....

Oh, and virtually no Solstas MAE's will survive 3 months! And you WILL NOT get paid out 12 months on the business you closed for Solstas im the past 9 months. Quest doesn't owe you that money. Most CRS's will be gone in 12 months or less. And you will have all signed new non-competes by then.

This is going to be a bloodbath, Quest is the conquering army and Solstas is the little Indians.

Strap in for the ride!

 

more like strap on for most of you

Those of you who have proactively owned your performance will be just fine.

 

Are you on drugs? Quest already has reps in most of these areas. Where there is coverage there will be layoffs. Performance won't matter. Wake up! This isn't Solstas. It's Quest. It's all about the dime. It's not about low balling and putting IOPs in $8k accounts.

 

Quest has much more stringent IOP placement guidelines than Solstas. You will see when IOP's are reviewed for profitability and revenue generation and >30% are reduced or eliminated.

 

Very good points. I'd like to encourage others to give educated and intelligent input as to how they see this transition playing out.

 

I couldn't agree more. It was nice of you to take the time to spell it out. The only change I'd add is that billing will hang on at Solstas a bit longer because Quest doesn't quickly (or at all) change the LIS. They'll need them for the decentralized billing for the tests performed there. They won't change the LIS. It WILL be scaled back and sent to Tucker which is not at capacity. And Solstas Billing is "unique". They will keep testing in the locations required by the managed care contracts to be in-network. This will drive much of the decisions particularly UHC since Quest is out of network.

Reps for the most part, will be ok. IOP's will require $15-$19K profitability give or take. Get ready to see how efficient business operates with long term goals in mind (rather than selling). That will cause client attrition and the corresponding fall out. Warn the PHlebs to start moving on. Quest will value your relationships with providers. Especially in NC and AL which Quest has struggled to grow. Others, do a good job, have an open mind and remember...they were your competition. Not the enemy.

Watch for small labs to pop up agressively as the "anti Quest and Labcorp".

 

How do you see this working out for Solstas reps/managers who came from Quest and didn't leave on the best of terms (how just about everybody leaving Quest gets labeled)? Do these people get welcomed back with open arms or is it a black mark against them?

Are you saying Quest will make additional, smaller sales territories in order to incorporate the Solstas reps in areas that currently overlay Quest territories that have reps in them?

You actually believe UHC is going to allow a Quest lab to be in-network for United Healthcare plans? Especially when that Quest lab is 20 minutes from Burlington?

 

It's a toss up how they will view former employees.I know a guy who was fired by Q for something legitimately, was acquired, everyone forgot and he stayed on and got promoted.

They will Rembrandt and rank Reps in territories on both sides and score them out eventually. They'll want to keep the same S Reps to keep clients on the S side calm through the transition. It really might turn out to be a good thing for decent Reps if they can stop having the chip on their shoulder. Don't talk about adding a Phleb to a low volume account to get the biz or low pricing. These are what Q thinks about S. True or not. Revenue will be analzyed for real. With real data and they really will act on it.

UHC-yes, depending on what the S contract says. UHC won't have a choice for the term of the contracts.

Good luck boyz and girlz. Reps are anxious here too.

 

You people need to own your performance and discontinue this baseless and ridiculous speculation about what you think will happen.

If you were in a position to know, then you would also know when to keep things to yourselves.

Whether you are Solstas or Quest, you'd better realize...quickly...that your behavior on this board is a performance issue.

 

Oh grow up! Quit acting like you are in charge or position to tell anybody what they have to do.
You are such a joke, acting like you are somebody when in reality you are a nobody!

 

I agree with almost everything you've said. I worked for Quest before coming over to Solstas so I've seen both sides. Two things I will differ on:

1. It couldn't be anymore clear that you're speaking from a Q point of view, and likely have no other lab experience. I don't know of a single S rep who would think "really might turn out to be a good thing for decent Reps if they can stop having the chip on their shoulder" is accurate. You clearly show the classic Q overinflated self ego. Walk away from the kool-aid, Jim Jones. No decent rep at Solstas desires to work for Quest. We don't consider it a privilege - we will consider it a scarlet letter mark on our career.

2. There is always a slim chance that UHC was incompetent when it signed an agreement with Solstas. However, since it was clear to anyone with a pulse and half a brain that Solstas was built solely to be sold, it is doubtful UHC and Labcorp let the agreement be transferable. That will be interesting to see.

 

Wow. It is hard to believe some of these posts are from adults. Families are going to be drastically affected and you are acting like idiots. Now is the time to support each other. Let's show compassion for each other - none of us are guaranteed anything. God bless us all & our families.

 

Would it be more compassionate to stick our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is going to change?

What history of multiple Quest buyouts has shown is that the purchased lab, and it's staff, is decimated. Take a long look at any acquisition and dare to disagree. Just look at how Solstas decimated Doctors Lab bit by bit and you will a similar effect just on a smaller scale. Recall the promises DW made to DLI to secure the ESOP votes? Customer Service and Billing would remain local, testing wouldn't be cut, they loved their personal local service that had so many loyal customers and wanted to learn from it.... All of this sounding familiar? Piece by piece DLI was dismantled and the same destruction will happen to Solstas.

 

The shining stars here will not only be fine, we will benefit beyond your understanding from this change. We don't need your support and we are far to busy to carry your dead weight any longer. Now you must own your performance.

 

The shining stars at Solstas have no desire to be a part of Quest. We've been kicking your tails for years and know we're better than you. Selling Quest will be an embarrassment but we'll do it for a while if we must. We don't want to be a part of Quest. Period. Never will accept that green Q. It's an embarrassment to all of us. This is terrible.

 

This attitude is why you failed and now feel "terrible" about your new lot in life while the shining stars will keep winning and have no worries. Why don't you try pulling up your pants and getting to work. It's a new day full of opportunity. I wish we had time to help you more but we are far too busy creating wealth for ourselves and our great new organization. Hope this helps.

 

Repeat after me: It's not a NEW organization! It's Quest Diagnostics.

Buying Solstas will NOT change Quest Diagnostics. SLP will barely be a ripple in the water of the Quest ocean and then all signs of what was SLP will disappear into the vortex of darkness. You will become Quest. This is a buyout, takeover, call it whatever you want but it is not a merger or joint venture. Quest will own you and you will do what they say and do it their way.

There is nothing new about Quest Diagnostics. They've been doing things their way for years and you are not going to impact that. Welcome to mediocrity.

 

Winners do things our way and losers do things your way. Keep crying about "the vortex of darkness" while the best and brightest succeed, advance and prosper in ways you can't imagine. Quest is our great new organization. You will be left behind and will not recover. Hope this helps.

 

Calm down, Gloria.

Meltdowns, especially on this board, do not help your cause, sunshine.

 

The best and brightest of Quest are the ones who are smart enough to get some experience and get the heck out. Employee turnover in the quest sales organization is horrendous, on par with the worst in the industry. 80% of quest sales reps turnover every 2 years or less. Clients both cringe and laugh at having a new quest rep calling on them every year. It's laughable.

It's hilarious that anyone at SLP thinks you will change quest. You might as well take a job picking up trash at a national park with the expectation that you are going to change the federal government. You simply will not make a difference or be noticed.

Quest is 40,000 employees deep. Maybe 500 SLP employees survive after this is all said and done. And all of those will be at the lowest levels of the organization.

So keep dreaming until the freight train of reality steamrolls down your tracks. Reality will come to you soon enough.