![]() | |
Company type | Public |
---|---|
ASX: SHL | |
Industry | Health – Medical Diagnostics |
Founded | 1987. Parts of the company have operated for many decades |
Founder | Michael Boyd |
Headquarters | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Key people | Colin Goldschmidt (CEO, Managing Director) |
Products | Pathology/laboratory medicine and Imaging/radiology |
Revenue | ![]() |
Number of employees | 37,000 |
Website | www |
Sonic Healthcare Limited is a Sydney-based, Australian company that provides laboratory services, pathology, radiology services and Primary care medical services. [2]
Sonic Healthcare Limited has a presence in Australia, New Zealand, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland. It is the largest medical laboratory provider in Australasia and in Europe, and the third largest in the US. In 2015, it employed over 37,000 people. [3]
The company is now part of the S&P/ASX 50, and is one of the largest medical companies listed on the ASX. The others are CSL Limited, Cochlear, and ResMed. The company strategy is growth by acquisition of overseas companies. With many critiques arguing that such a strategy can lead to over diversification, yet has seemingly worked well to expand its business [4]
Annual Revenues for Financial Year to June 30, 2019, exceeded A$6.2 billion. Colin Goldschmidt is the CEO and Managing Director.
The company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1987 as Sonic Technology Australia Ltd. It had its roots in the pathology practice of Douglass Laboratories.
In 1991, Douglass Laboratories opened a pathology branch in Adelaide, South Australia. [5]
In 1992, the company acquired, then merged with, the Adelaide pathology practice Clinpath Laboratories. [5]
In 1993, Colin Goldschmidt was appointed Managing Director for the group of laboratories. [5]
In 1994, Sonic Healthcare acquired and merged with Sydney's Tan Pathology. [5]
In 1995, Sonic Healthcare acquired the Adelaide practice Pathlab making it part of Clinpath Laboratories. The company also formally changed from Sonic Technology to Sonic Healthcare Limited. [5]
In 1996, Sonic Healthcare acquired New South Wales-based companies Hanly Moir Pathology and Barratt and Smith Pathologists, and Canberra-based Barratt Smith Moran Pathology. Douglass Laboratories merged operations with Hanly Moir Pathology to form Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology. Sonic Clinical Trials began operating from the Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology site at North Ryde. Sonic Healthcare became Australia's largest pathology group. [5]
In 1997, Barratt Smith Moran Pathology changed its name to Capital Pathology. Sonic Healthcare acquired Lifescreen Australia. [5]
In 1998, Sonic Healthcare acquired two pathology operations from Alpha Healthcare: Australian Diagnostics Laboratories (which was merged with Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology) in Sydney and Southern Pathology, on the south coast of NSW. Southern Pathology continued to operate as a separate entity. It acquired the SGS groups: Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology (Queensland), Northern Pathology (Queensland), Melbourne Pathology (Victoria), Diagnostic Services (Tasmania), Diagnostic Medical Laboratories (New Zealand), Medlab Central (New Zealand), Medlab South (New Zealand), Valley Diagnostic Laboratories (New Zealand), and the New Zealand Radiology Group. This created the largest diagnostic group in Australasia and began the company's diagnostic imaging. [5]
In 2000, Sonic Healthcare established its Core Values and introduced new management structures. It also acquired Hitech Pathology (Victoria) that merged with Melbourne Pathology. [5]
In 2001, Sonic Healthcare acquired Castlereagh Imaging (New South Wales), Castlereagh Imaging Hong Kong (HK), Hunter Imaging Group (New South Wales), Illawarra Radiology Group (New South Wales), Canterbury Medical Imaging (New Zealand), Palmerston North X-Ray (New Zealand), (through Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology) Consultant Pathologists in Townsville (Queensland) and Cairns Pathology Laboratory (Queensland), Queensland X-Ray Group, Illawarra Medical Laboratories (New South Wales), Clinipath Pathology (Western Australia), La Trobe Pathology (Victoria) and Bunbury Pathology (Western Australia) from Foundation Healthcare, and SKG Radiology (Western Australia's largest private diagnostic imaging practice). [5]
In 2002, the company acquired The Doctors Laboratory, Britain's largest private pathology practice. Through Sullivan Nicolaides the company acquired the practice of Tom Lynch in Rockhampton (Queensland). Through SKG Radiology, the company acquired Fremantle Radiology (Western Australia). [5]
In 2003, Sonic Healthcare (through Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology) acquired the NSW Central Coast Pathology practice of Richard Haskell. Sonic Healthcare (through Queensland X-Ray) acquired the Southside Diagnostic Services Group in Brisbane. In the UK, the company acquired Omnilabs Pathology (London), merging it into The Doctors Laboratory. [5]
In 2004, The Doctors Laboratory formed a partnership with the National Health Service's University College of London Hospital. Sonic Healthcare acquired 56% ownership of the Schottdorf Group in Germany, [6] 72% ownership of the Independent Practitioner Network Limited (IPN), the pathology operations of Endeavour HealthCare in NSW and WA merging them into Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology and Clinipath Pathology, and (through IPN) Endeavour's medical centre operations. [5]
In 2005, Sonic Healthcare acquired an 82% interest in Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Inc. the largest privately owned regional pathology laboratory in the United States of America. [5]
In 2006, Sonic Healthcare acquired Central Queensland Pathology Laboratory (Mackay, Queensland) merging it with Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, Muskogee Clinical Laboratory (Muskogee, Oklahoma, US), The Cognoscenti Health Institute (East Orlando, Florida, US), and Lookadoo Skyline Laboratories (Port St Lucie, Florida, US). [5]
In 2007, the company established Sonic's USA's head office and acquired American Esoteric Laboratories (Tennessee and Texas), the remaining 18% of Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Mullins Pathology & Cytology Laboratory P.C. (Augusta, Georgia, US), Sunrise Medical Laboratories (a full-service clinical reference laboratory servicing Long Island and the New York metropolitan area), and Woodbury Clinical Laboratory (Lebanon, Tennessee). Sonic Healthcare entered the Swiss market by acquiring the Medica Laboratory Group (Zurich, Switzerland). It acquired the Bioscientia Healthcare Group (Ingelheim, Germany and the remaining equity in the Schottdorf Group. In Australia, Sonic Healthcare acquired LifeCheck (Sydney, NSW) merging it into Lifescreen. [5]
In 2008, in the US, Sonic Healthcare acquired American Clinical Services (New Jersey) merging it with Sunrise Medical Laboratories, Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii, and Pan Pacific Pathologists (Hawaii). In Europe, it acquired Labor Prof. Krech (Switzerland) merging it into Medica, Labor 28 (Berlin, Germany), GLP Medical Group (Hamburg, Germany), and 100% ownership of IPN which in turn acquired the Gemini Medical Group. [5]
In 2009, the company established the German Sonic Executive Committee to coordinate its German operations. In the US, Sonic Healthcare acquired Axiom Laboratories (Tampa, Florida) merging it with The Cognoscienti Health Institute, Piedmont Medical Laboratory (Winchester, Virginia), and East Side Clinical Laboratory (Rhode Island). [5]
In 2010, Sonic Healthcare acquired Labor Lademannbogen (Hamburg, Germany) and Medhold Group (Antwerp, Belgium), and through the IPN the Prime Health Group. In the US, the company acquired CBLPath (Rye Brook, NY) and Physician's Automated Laboratory (Bakersfield, California). [5]
In 2011, Sonic acquired the Woestyn Laboratory (Belgium), cytopathology business Labor Dr. Steinberg (Germany), Central Coast Pathology (San Luis Obispo, California), and Allied Medical and Australian Skin Cancer medical centre groups. [5]
In 2012, the company acquired Labor Oldenburg Dr. Müller (Germany) and the Western Australian pathology operations of Healthscope. [5]
In 2013, IPN acquired the Australian Locum Medical Service group and Sonic acquired Labco S.A. Group (Germany). [5]
In 2014, Sonic acquired San Pathology (Sydney). [5]
In 2015, Sonic acquired Medisupport S.A (Switzerland) and Klinisch Laboratorium Declerck (Ardooie, Belgium). In Australia, the company acquired Adelaide Pathology Partners and the Medibank Workplace Health (WPH) and Travel Doctor businesses. [5]
In 2016–2017, Sonic acquired 80% ownership of GLP systems (Hamburg, Germany). It acquired Staber Laboratory group (Munich, Germany), Medical Laboratory Bremen, and West Pacific Medical Laboratory (Los Angeles, California). The company partnered with Baptist Memorial Health Care to establish a bacteriology centre of excellence (Memphis, Tennessee), with Western Connecticut Health Network to form Constitution Diagnostics Network, and with NYU Health System to form NYU Langone Diagnostics (New York). [5]
In 2018, Sonic acquired Pathology Trier (Germany). The company partnered with ProMedica Health System to form ProMedica Pathology Laboratories (Ohio and adjacent states). [5]
In 2019, the company acquired Aurora Diagnostics (USA) and sold its interest in GLP systems (Germany). [5]
In 2020–2021, Sonic acquired Pathologie Hamburg, a majority stake in Epworth Medical Imaging (Victoria, Australia) and in Harrison.ai's pathology solutions, Canberra Imaging Group, and ProPath (Dallas, Texas). [5]
In 2022, Sonic acquired a 19.99% state in Microba Life Sciences Limited - ASX:MAP (Queensland, Australia). Sonic and Microba have agree on a strategic alliance to exclusively deliver Microba's microbiome testing Technology in Germany, the United Kingdom and Belgium as well as a non-exclusive distribution within Sonic's broader network including Australia, Switzerland, the United States and New Zealand.
Anatomical pathology (Commonwealth) or anatomic pathology (U.S.) is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the macroscopic, microscopic, biochemical, immunologic and molecular examination of organs and tissues. Over the 20th century, surgical pathology has evolved tremendously: from historical examination of whole bodies (autopsy) to a more modernized practice, centered on the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer to guide treatment decision-making in oncology. Its modern founder was the Italian scientist Giovanni Battista Morgagni from Forlì.
Health informatics is the study and implementation of computer structures and algorithms to improve communication, understanding, and management of medical information. It can be viewed as branch of engineering and applied science.
GE HealthCare Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational medical technology company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was spun-off from General Electric on January 4, 2023, with GE retaining 6.7%. As of 2017, it is a manufacturer and distributor of diagnostic imaging agents and radiopharmaceuticals for imaging modalities used in medical imaging procedures. It offers dyes used in magnetic-resonance-imaging procedures; manufactures medical diagnostic equipment, including CT image machines; MRI, X-ray; ultrasound; cath labs; mammogram; Nuclear Medicine Cameras; and develops health technology for medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, disease research, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It was incorporated in 1994 and operates in more than 100 countries.
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is an American clinical laboratory. A Fortune 500 company, Quest operates in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Brazil. Quest also maintains collaborative agreements with various hospitals and clinics across the globe.
A medical specialty is a branch of medical practice that is focused on a defined group of patients, diseases, skills, or philosophy. Examples include those branches of medicine that deal exclusively with children (paediatrics), cancer (oncology), laboratory medicine (pathology), or primary care. After completing medical school or other basic training, physicians or surgeons and other clinicians usually further their medical education in a specific specialty of medicine by completing a multiple-year residency to become a specialist.
A Medical Laboratory Scientist (MLS) or Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS) or Medical Technologist (MT) performs diagnostic testing of blood and body fluids in clinical laboratories. The scope of a medical laboratory scientist's work begins with the receipt of patient or client specimens and terminates with the delivery of test results to physicians and other healthcare providers. The utility of clinical diagnostic testing relies squarely on the validity of test methodology. To this end, much of the work done by medical laboratory scientists involves ensuring specimen quality, interpreting test results, data-logging, testing control products, performing calibration, maintenance, validation, and troubleshooting of instrumentation as well as performing statistical analyses to verify the accuracy and repeatability of testing. Medical laboratory scientists may also assist healthcare providers with test selection and specimen collection and are responsible for prompt verbal delivery of critical lab results. Medical Laboratory Scientists in healthcare settings also play an important role in clinical diagnosis. An estimated 70% of medical decisions are based on laboratory test results and MLS contributions affect 95% of a health system's costs.
A biomedical engineering/equipment technician/technologist or biomedical engineering/equipment specialist is typically an electro-mechanical technician or technologist who ensures that medical equipment is well-maintained, properly configured, and safely functional. In healthcare environments, BMETs often work with or officiate as a biomedical and/or clinical engineer, since the career field has no legal distinction between engineers and engineering technicians/technologists.
The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists.
Siemens Healthineers is a German company which provides healthcare services. It was spun off from its parent company Siemens in 2017, which retains a 75% stake. Siemens Healthineers is the parent company for several medical technology companies and is headquartered in Erlangen, Germany.
Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialise in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radiographers are infrequently, and almost always erroneously, known as x-ray technicians. In countries that use the title radiologic technologist they are often informally referred to as techs in the clinical environment; this phrase has emerged in popular culture such as television programmes. The term radiographer can also refer to a therapeutic radiographer, also known as a radiation therapist.
A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical medical laboratories are an example of applied science, as opposed to research laboratories that focus on basic science, such as found in some academic institutions.
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, more commonly known as Labcorp, is an American healthcare company headquartered in Burlington, North Carolina. It operates one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the world, with a United States network of 36 primary laboratories. Before a merger with National Health Laboratory in 1995, the company operated under the name Roche BioMedical. Labcorp performs its largest volume of specialty testing at its Center for Esoteric Testing in Burlington, North Carolina, where the company is headquartered. As of 2018, Labcorp processes 2.5 million lab tests weekly.
Sunquest Information Systems Inc. is a U.S. developer of medical laboratory and diagnostic software. It was founded in 1979 and as of 2012, is a subsidiary of Roper Technologies. Sunquest software includes clinical diagnostic data management, blood bank data management, molecular diagnostics analysis and reporting, and multi-laboratory inter-connectivity.
The Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture (VISTA) is the system of record for the clinical, administrative and financial operations of the Veterans Health Administration VISTA consists of over 180 clinical, financial, and administrative applications integrated within a single shared lifelong database (figure 1).
Master of Medicine is a postgraduate professional clinical degree awarded by medical schools to physicians following a period of instruction, supervised clinical rotations, and examination. The degree usually takes three years to complete, but may take up to four years in some countries. It is awarded by only medical subspecialties and usually includes a dissertation component.before enrollment in this program,medical graduate has to pass the entrance test. The degree may complement an existing fellowship in the chosen specialty or be the sole qualification necessary for registration as a specialist.
Biomedical sciences are a set of sciences applying portions of natural science or formal science, or both, to develop knowledge, interventions, or technology that are of use in healthcare or public health. Such disciplines as medical microbiology, clinical virology, clinical epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, and biomedical engineering are medical sciences. In explaining physiological mechanisms operating in pathological processes, however, pathophysiology can be regarded as basic science.
SYNLAB Group is an international medical diagnostics provider headquartered in Munich, Germany. SYNLAB is leading in diagnostic services and specialty testing in Europe.
Dr Lal PathLabs Limited is an Indian service provider of diagnostic and related healthcare tests. Based in New Delhi, the company offers tests on blood, urine and other human body viscera.
Agilus Diagnostics Limited is an Indian multinational diagnostics company providing diagnostic services in pathology and radiology. Agilus Diagnostics has its headquarters and corporate office in Gurgaon.
Health Services Laboratories(HSL) is an independent provider of pathology and diagnostic services to the NHS. Formed in 2015, it is a partnership between The Doctors Laboratory, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. The Doctors Laboratory is the longest-established specialist provider of clinically-led pathology services in the UK and is based in central London. It is owned by Sonic Healthcare, an Australian company providing pathology and radiology services.