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
February 25, 2019 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Quest Diagnostics sold its clinical laboratory business in India last December, thus ending a 12-year effort to build a thriving business in that nation of 1.3 billion people. The buyer was Strand Life Sciences of Bengaluru, India. The transaction was announced in a…
February 4, 2019 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
More than 63 healthcare and medical service organizations signed a letter asking officials at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider their latest interpretation of a National Coverage Determination (NCD) on the subject of next-generation sequencin…
January 14, 2019 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Up to 10,000 patients will get free genetic testing at Northwell Health, the nation’s largest urban health network. In a deal announced on Jan. 9, Northwell Health and Color, a genetic testing company, will collaborate on a program to offer geneti…
Why PAMA May Be Poised to Disrupt Lab Industry
CEO SUMMARY: This will be one of the most challenging years facing the clinical lab industry since the early 1990s, when closed panel HMOs were the disruptive force that generated deep cuts in lab test prices. However, unlike HMOs of that era, the CMS scheme to collect private payer lab t…
December 24, 2018 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Pathologists at the Houston Methodist health system created a website that tracks confirmed flu cases in real time. It is located at: https://flu.houstonmethodist.org and uses epidemiology data from the eight hospitals in the h…
Several Big Surprises in 2018’s Top 10 Lab Stories
CEO SUMMARY: This year’s list of the Top 10 Lab Industry Stories for 2018 is dominated by new directives from Medicare and private health insurers, as well as significant decisions by federal courts. Collectively, these developments create new compliance risks for all clinical laborator…
December 3, 2018 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Another long-established regional laboratory company is about to be acquired. On November 27, Boyce and Bynum Pathology Laboratories of Columbia, Mo., disclosed that it had entered an agreement to be acquired by Quest Diagnostics Inc. Notably, the press release abou…
UnitedHealth Rumored to Be Excluding Labs from Its Network
IN RECENT DAYS, RUMORS HAVE SURFACED that UnitedHealthcare has begun to terminate the contracts it holds with a number of regional and non-national clinical laboratories. This news surfaced just as The Dark Report went to press. Given its importance to the clinical laboratory indust…
November 13, 2018 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
In recent weeks, Apple signed agreements with the nation’s two largest lab companies to make their lab test data available on Apple’s Health Record app. Laboratory Corporation of America was first to announce its agreement with Apple on Oct. 29. Quest Di…
Respected Pathology Consultant Laurence J. Peterson Dies
Many pathologists currently leading academic pathology programs and private pathology groups got some of their best business advice from Laurence J. Peterson, CPA. For more than 30 years, Peterson was involved in the operation of both clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups throughout the…
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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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