Colorado’s attorney general has announced the state is receiving its $37,000 share of a multistate lawsuit against Quest Diagnostics, Inc. Settlement funds will be given to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing.
Over allegations of faulty medical-testing kits, the company settled the suit brought by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The final settlement came out to about $12.4 million.
A now defunct subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, Nichols Institute Diagnostics, allegedly “manufactured faulty medical-testing kits that resulted in inaccurate and unreliable laboratory tests” according to the Colorado AG’s statement. These kits were billed to state Medicaid programs across the country.
The particular kit was used to test patients with end-stage renal disease to determine if their parathyroid glands were overactive. Tests using the kits showed an abnormally high number of positive results.
In a separate case, Quest agreed to pay $302 million in April to settle federal criminal and civil allegations regarding the kits.
As part of the settlement, Nichols Institute Diagnostics will plead guilty to misbranding under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act the AG’s office said.
