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
“June 24, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Competition for HPV testing just got more intense with the announcement that Roche Diagnostics has obtained rights to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) patent portfolio owned by Institut Pasteur in France. It intends to develop an HPV test that would compete with …
CPI Lab Fee Adjustment Threatened by New Bill
CEO SUMMARY: Once again, the laboratory testing industry has been singled out as a healthcare “whipping boy” by Congressional aides. In working to develop the next federal budget, legislators again propose to deny annual CPI price updates for laboratory tests. This won’t be anything…
Vaccine Shortage Is Result Of Economic Disincentives
RECENT PUBLICITY about the nationwide shortage of vaccines makes it timely to remind laboratory executives and pathologists about the important role that economics plays in providing goods and services to the healthcare marketplace. After all, good management strategy must incorporate an accurate as…
Business Buzz Saw Hits Anatomic Path Firms
CEO SUMMARY: In recent years, both companies have enjoyed sustained and rapid growth in offering anatomic pathology (AP) services nationally. The departure of CFOs from both companies, each for different reasons, is a sign that such unbridled growth has created unique problems for each AP…
Commercial Lab JVs With Hospitals Are Declining In Number
CEO SUMMARY: There are many reasons why a properly-designed and well-managed laboratory test joint venture (JV) between a commercial lab company and a hospital should succeed. But no matter how strong such concepts look on paper, the real world has proven to be a harsh environment. A hand…
Pharmacy Web-Ordering Now A Physician Priority
STRONG PRESSURES ARE MOTIVATING office-based physicians to adopt electronic ordering for prescriptions. In part, this is because of the drive to eliminate unnecessary medical errors. Estimates are that 6% of the nation’s physicians now use an electronic method to order prescriptions for their pati…
Sigma-Aldrich, Ivax Diagnostics, i-STAT, Quest Diagnostics, Unilab
SIGMA-ALDRICH SELLS ITS EIA PRODUCT LINE TO IVAX DIAGNOSTICS FOLLOWING ITS DECISION TO EXIT the clinical diagnostics market, Sigma-Aldrich, Inc. has sold its global enzyme immunoassay (EIA) product line to Ivax Diagnostics, Inc., based in Miami, Florida. Th…
“June 3, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Medicare fraud investigators may not be getting big headlines in recent years, but they are collecting ever-growing amounts of money from healthcare fraud settlements, judgements, and impositions. A record $1.36 billion was collected in 2001. During the year, federal investigators filed 445 criminal …
More Lab Consolidation: LabCorp Buys Dynacare
CEO SUMMARY: Recent weeks brought many rumors about an impending deal between Laboratory Corporation of America and Dynacare. That speculation was ended last week when it was disclosed that LabCorp would pay about $685 million in cash, stock and assumed debt to acquire Dynacare. The acqui…
Specialty Labs Coping With Unique Challenges
CEO SUMMARY: Few laboratory executives have ever been tested as intensely as those of Specialty Laboratories, Inc. Since the first of the year, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has purchased two of its biggest lab clients. In April, state and federal lab regulators issued sanctions. Both de…
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.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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