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
“May 17, 2004 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Oncology is predicted to be a major driver in laboratory testing in coming years (see TDR, March 15, 2004). That said, lung cancer may be the next high-profile target, joining…
New Esoteric Lab Firm Does Two Acquisitions
CEO SUMMARY: Armed with $70 million, American Esoteric Laboratories (AEL) wants to build a national laboratory that offers a full menu of esoteric tests. It is building a primary laboratory in Dallas, which has one of the nation’s best air transport hubs. ThromboCare Laboratories and Vi…
Growing Criticism Hits Maryland General Hospital Lab
CEO SUMMARY: “Like peeling back layers of rotten fruit, the deeper state and federal inspectors looked into the management of the hospital’s lab, the more problems they found.”–Editorial, Baltimore Sun, April 7, 2004. Public response to the inspection report of the Maryland Genera…
FL Medicaid Lab Bid Gets Slammed By Foes
CEO SUMMARY: Florida laboratories were caught by surprise last month when state Medicaid officials announced a 28-day process to award one lab with the state’s non-hospital Medicaid testing. To fight this RFP, a growing coalition of laboratories, lab industry trade groups, and the Flori…
Lab Contracting Fracas In British Columbia
CEO SUMMARY: Government healthcare officials in British Columbia are taking definitive steps to recast the existing status quo between private commercial laboratory companies and public (government) hospital laboratories in the province. Although the stated goals are to reduce the cost of…
Department of Defense and VA Prepare to Pool Health Data
IT’S ANOTHER IMPORTANT STEP on the road to a true “universal patient medical record.” Two government agencies are preparing to consolidate access to separate pools of healthcare data. Earlier this week, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Aff…
Competitive Bidding: A Growing Threat to Labs
CEO SUMMARY: When it comes to competitive bidding for laboratory testing services, Medicare is no longer the only government health program looking to save money through this method. Florida’s Medicaid program and the British Columbia health system are both moving forward with plans to …
Specialty Laboratories, Cytyc, Quest Diagnostics, DakoCytomation, Abbot
SPECIALTY LABORATORIES SHOWS VOLUME GROWTH DURING CALENDAR 2003 If the financial performance of Specialty Laboratories, Inc. in fourth quarter 2003 is an accurate measure, it appears the company has moved past its troubling problems of 2002. For fourth quarter 2003, Special…
MT Contracts HIV & HCV In Hospital Lab Scandal
CEO SUMMARY: An extraordinary story is unfolding in a Baltimore hospital laboratory. Maryland state health officials have uncovered serious operational deficiencies, particularly with HIV and HCV testing performed over a 14-month period. During this same time, a medical technologist now i…
Florida Issues State RFP For Sole Medicaid Lab
CEO SUMMARY: If competitive bidding for Medicare business is something universally viewed as bad by the laboratory industry, then the lab services RFP issued by Florida’s Medicaid program must be considered a serious threat to the status quo. Further, the fact that Medicaid officials in…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 13 – September 15, 2025
The Dark Report examines a new bill that would reform PAMA and avoid reimbursement rate cuts scheduled for January 2026. Clinical laboratory leaders are urged to make their voices heard in Congress. Also, an expert describes how labs can fix pre-analytical errors and avoid disaster.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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