This is amazing as a few years ago nobody batted an eye when Quest Labs bought out Uni-Lab which was much larger than little Westcliff by 
comparison. I remember that one well as it took a few years for Quest to incorporate the lab numbers to create one data base that all could use with brining in lab results to electronic medical records and at that time I was still writing code. That part made a lot of extra work years ago for both myself and other medical record vendors and there’s more than me with those un fond memories of HS7 parsing.
Labcorp the company most of us know as one of the major labs where we go for tests already had a big hold and interest in genomics and has for years so this 
could make for a very good match. The National Genetics Institute is located in Los Angeles.
There are some large IPAs that use Westcliff and they are a good lab but the next question to look at is how will they continue to survive without the big corporate backing? So, do we let them run dry out of business eventually due to health insurance contracts, as that’s what’s running this game for the sake of making sure we have enough competition? I don’t care which lab doctors life, it they are not on contract then patients can’t go there with managed care. 
Who can’t see the big picture today? Obviously it’s those who are the “non participants” in much of today’s healthcare system in the US. Westcliff has it’s primary strong holding in Orange and Los Angeles Counties in southern California.
LabCorp Takes Over as 23andMe's Genotyping Service Provider
With the data systems incorporated patients will be able to bring their lab results into Google Health and HealthVault too, so again are there folks living in the 70s here who can’t see all of this that still think denial is a river in Egypt? I did not see this capability on Westcliff as it takes money to put all the IT systems in order to make this possible.
LabCorp and MyMedLab Connect with Microsoft HealthVault PHR
THE HEALTH INSURER CONTRACTS ARE DRIVING THIS! DUH!
If you go back a few years ago when United Healthcare switched to LabCorp, what a mess it created as years of habit with using Quest were hard to change. Again, this is life in the real world and outside the parameters of folks looking solely at screens. Not allowing this deal will not do anything to keep the cost down in reality and again I go back to the huge acquisition Quest made a few years ago to compare. BD
The Federal Trade Commission challenged Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings' $57.5 million acquisition of Westcliff Medical Laboratories, alleging the deal would harm competition in southern California.
The agency alleges the June transaction violates antitrust laws and would lead to higher prices and lower quality because it would leave LabCorp and rival Quest Diagnostics Inc. in control of about 89% of the region's market. The FTC is filing an action in federal court to prevent LabCorp from integrating the Westcliff assets while the case is tried in administrative court.
"Competition is one of the keys to keeping health-care costs under control and ensuring that patients receive high-quality care, and laboratory services are an essential part of that," said FTC competition chief Richard Feinstein.
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