Robert Michel
Until Robert L. Michel came along and founded The Dark Intelligence Group (DIG) two decades ago, the clinical laboratory industry and the anatomic pathology profession lacked a trustworthy source for information about the management and operations of medical laboratories. From its inception in 1995, The Dark Report quickly became the “go to” source of industry intelligence, innovations in lab management, and strategic market analysis.
This excellence in reporting has earned recognition from his peers. For example, twice Michel and The Dark Report have won national awards for best investigative reporting by the Specialty Information Publishers Association. In 2005, the award was for Michel’s coverage about how the anatomic pathology condominium laboratories (pod labs) operated by urologists and gastroenterologists came to be, who operated them, and how these owners marketed the AP condo labs to other physician groups. In 2009, Michel’s award for best investigative reporting resulted from his published interviews with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated when the company admitted that, for a period of 18 months, it had been reported inaccurate Vitamin 25(OH) D results because of problems with its laboratory-developed test methodology. The Dark Report’s story was picked up by The New York Times and was in the national news cycle for several days.
In his role as Editor-in-Chief, Michel brought unique capabilities to DIG and The Dark Report. His management training and diverse business experience—along with his skills as a concise writer and analyst—proved to be a winning combination for readers of The Dark Report. For that reason, Michel’s story has many intriguing elements.
Immediately prior to founding DIG, he had served in several executive positions for Nichols Institute based in Portland, Oregon, and San Juan Capistrano, California. This was during the time that Nichols Institute was an independent public lab company with annual revenues of about $280 million (prior to its acquisition by MetPath, Inc., now Quest Diagnostics Incorporated). He traveled extensively to many of the clinical lab business units owned by Nichols Institute in different regions of the United States and played a role in formulating effective market strategies in response to the emergence of closed-panel HMOs, capitated pricing, and full-risk managed care contracts, among other successful management initiatives.
Prior to his service at Nichols Institute, Michel served at three different Fortune 100 companies. These were Procter & Gamble, Centex Corporation, and Financial Corp. of America. Each was an opportunity to master new management techniques and apply them in different industries. Between these positions, he gained experience as an entrepreneur, having founded a real estate development firm and a general contracting company in the Southeastern United States.
Robert Michel earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he played rugby, a sport he participated in for another 22 years. He is a native of California and grew up in Santa Ana.
Articles by Robert Michel
Esoterix Ready to Launch National Marketing Blitz
CEO SUMMARY: It was 1995 when several specialty testing lab companies were acquired by a new company called Esoterix. Immediately the lab industry viewed Esoterix as a “put-together” lab company. However, since 2000, executives at Esoterix have invested $50 million to integrate operat…
Non-Pathologists Altering U.S. Laboratory Industry
CEO SUMMARY: It’s an interesting contradiction. On one hand, most pathologists enthusiastically recognize the value that diagnostic testing services provide to the healthcare community. On the other hand, too often it is non-laboratorians who provide the investment capital and entrepren…
Changes Expected in Market For Hospital Reference Testing
CEO SUMMARY: For the hospital send-out testing marketplace, 2002 has been an eventful year. First came the acquisition of American Medical Laboratories by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. In April, Specialty Laboratories disclosed its problems with state and federal laboratory regulators. …
Reactions To FL Court’s Ruling On Clin Path Fees
CEO SUMMARY: Reimbursement for clinical pathology professional services is under attack in a variety of ways throughout the United States. Recently a Florida Court of Appeal added a new court ruling to the growing body of legal decisions on this topic. Careful study of the ruling shows th…
“September 16, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
It’s another sign of change that benefits clinical laboratories. The journal Quality and Safety in Health Care published a study recently which determined that 86% of mistakes in family care offices are administrative or process errors. Most involved misfiling patient information, orde…
Two Blood Brothers Use “Free Testing” Strategy
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a business strategy that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laboratory Corporation of America use in selected areas where they have lost exclusive managed care contracts to regional lab competitors. In order to retain access to a physician’s fee-for-service testing b…
Will “Free Testing” Ploy Financially Affect Labs?
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a marketing scheme which public lab companies have quietly used for years. Now there is evidence that the use of “Waiver of Charges to Managed Care Patients” (free testing) seems to be on the increase, raising new questions about how and why competitive practices a…
Newly-Issued HIPAA Regs Generate Lots of Controversy
HIPAA IS A SUBJECT that is little understood and generates lots of concern among clinical laboratories and every type of healthcare provider that generates clinical data. On August 14, final privacy regulations were published in the Federal Register. The implementation deadline for most he…
Lab Competitors Pool Lab Data For Clinicians In British Columbia
CEO SUMMARY: In British Columbia, two commercial laboratory competitors have found common ground. BC Biomedical Laboratories and MDS Metro Laboratories are using LOINC to link their laboratory test databases. Physicians use a single system to access their patient’s test results, regardl…
Quest Diagnostics, CVS Pharmacies, Premier, Novation, Luminex, Careside.
QUEST DOES DEAL WITH CVS DRUGSTORES FOR LAB TESTING PATHOLOGISTS CONCERNED about pharmacists moving into the lab testing arena should closely watch the newly-announced relationship between Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Corporation. Starting this m…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 12 – August 25, 2025
In an exclusive interview, a laboratory industry M&A specialist discusses what’s driving lab outreach sales to national lab companies. Also, The Dark Report analyzes ways in which pathology and clinical labs can profitably partner with pharmaceutical companies.
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