Bangalore, Feb 21, 2008:  Quest Diagnostics India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics, a provider of diagnostic testing, information and services, has entered into a long-term agreement to provide health assessment services, including diagnostic laboratory testing, for Birla Sun Life Insurance Company Limited, one of India's largest private insurance companies.

 

Under terms of the agreement, Quest Diagnostics will generally have the exclusive right to provide full-service medical screening and diagnostic testing of life insurance candidates, and related administrative services for Birla Sun Life's individual life-insurance underwriting business. Birla Sun Life is a leading insurance carrier in India's burgeoning life-insurance premium market, which is predicted to more than double to $100 billion by 2012.

 

Demand for insurance products in India has grown significantly in recent years, driven by deregulation of the insurance industry in 2000 and a growing middle class with the disposable income to buy insurance policies. Currently the premium market for India's blossoming life insurance sector is at $40 billion. 

 

"Quest Diagnostics, through its ExamOne risk-assessment business in the US, has more than 30 years of experience providing medical screening, diagnostic testing and other risk assessment services to leading insurance companies in North America," said Mr Janak Singh Bajwa, managing director, Quest Diagnostics India.

 

He further said, "Through our agreement with Birla Sun Life, we bring to India a level of expertise in health assessment, testing, and related services that has, until now, been largely absent from the country's booming life insurance market. As India's insurance market continues its fast paced growth, we look forward to delivering services that will enable Birla Sun Life to drive quality and cost efficiencies in its underwriting process."

 

Quest Diagnostics will provide a range of health management services to Birla Sun Life, including laboratory testing through its new 65,000 square- foot diagnostic testing facility in Gurgaon, as well as case management and appointment scheduling of medical exams by trained and credentialed physicians. Quest Diagnostics will serve Birla Sun Life using its proprietary ExamView medical services and CaseView laboratory-test ordering and reporting software, which is used by the company's risk assessment business, ExamOne, based in Lenexa, Kansas, to serve insurance companies in up to 20 countries around the world.