{"id":31517,"date":"2026-06-15T11:06:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=31517"},"modified":"2026-06-15T11:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T15:16:54","slug":"open-letter-release-health-coalition-issues-open-letter-to-health-minister-to-stop-transfer-of-lab-testing-by-quest-lifelabs-to-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/open-letter-release-health-coalition-issues-open-letter-to-health-minister-to-stop-transfer-of-lab-testing-by-quest-lifelabs-to-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"OPEN LETTER & RELEASE: <\/FONT> Health Coalition Issues Open Letter to Health Minister to Stop Transfer of Lab Testing by Quest\/Lifelabs to U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

(June 15, 2026)<\/p>\n

Link to Quest\u2019s March 9, 2026 memo can be found here.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Dear Minister Jones,<\/p>\n

We are writing to ask that you stop LifeLabs\/Quest from sending Ontario patients laboratory specimens to Quest\u2019s reference laboratories in the United States and restore our public hospital outpatient laboratories. As you know, in August 2024, Quest completed its acquisition of LifeLabs. Since then, Quest, an American multinational, has been attempting to cut back services to Ontario\u2019s patients. In Sudbury, they attempted to close their laboratory processing facility entirely and have now reduced its staffing by half. From January to March, they cancelled afternoon hours at the Kenora lab collection centre. Currently, they are beginning to move lab tests that are done in Ontario\u2019s hospitals to the United States.<\/p>\n

For decades, these reference laboratory tests have been performed in Ontario\u2019s hospitals. Shifting them to the United States raises serious patient privacy and specimen quality concerns, delays results, harms the efficiency and independence of Ontario\u2019s medical laboratory system, transfers more Ontario health care dollars to the United States and reduces income to our hospitals.<\/p>\n

On March 9, 2026, LifeLabs\/Quest informed \u201cexternal laboratories\u201d\u00a0that reference laboratory tests will be transitioned to Quest Diagnostics.\u00a0What they call \u201cexternal laboratories\u201d are Ontario\u2019s public hospital medical laboratories that have been routinely used for many years by LifeLabs to test samples from Ontario patients that LifeLabs did not have the ability to process. Quest\u2019s reference laboratories are all in the United States. Quest\u2019s March 9 memo states that phase one of this transfer of tests to the United States will begin on April 6 with phases two and three following in the period May to July of this year.<\/p>\n

Quest\u2019s actions will:<\/p>\n