NEW YORK (360Dx) – Quest Diagnostics and Hartford Healthcare on Thursday confirmed that they have signed a letter of intent to sell the outreach laboratories of two hospitals to Quest Diagnostics.
The labs are affiliated with Backus Hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, and the Hospital of Central Connecticut, which has campuses in New Britain and Southington, a spokesperson for Hartford Healthcare said in an email. She declined to provide financial and other terms of the agreement but said that pending regulatory approval, the deal is expected to be completed in the last few months of 2017.
The sale of the labs is the "next phase of the successful transition" of Clinical Laboratory Partners, a subsidiary of Hartford Health, to Quest, an acquisition that was completed in February 2016, the spokesperson said.
A Quest spokesperson added that the letter of intent is nonbinding. "We are in [the] very early stages of this potential transaction ... and our plans may change."
A total number of 210 full-time and part-time employees work at Backus and HOCC, of which about 60 of them may be affected by the sale, according to the Hartford Health spokesperson.
Earlier this week, Quest announced it has completed its previously announced deal to purchase PeaceHealth's outreach laboratory services and to manage 11 PeaceHealth labs.