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
Why Wall Street Likes Histology Lab Business
CEO SUMMARY: Over the past two decades, investor-owned anatomic pathology companies captured significant market share from community hospital-based pathology groups while delivering profits to their owners. Despite the recent downturn in the economy, Wall Street believes histolog…
April 27, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
As unemployment rates climb in the United States, employers are ordering fewer pre-employment drugs of abuse (DOA) screening panels. This is expected. It is why investors know that drugs-of-abuse volumes are closely linked to the economic boom/bust cycle. During first quarter earning calls, public la…
Attorney General Brown Sues Seven California Labs
CEO SUMMARY: California Attorney General Jerry Brown made a big splash last month by accusing seven lab firms of committing “massive fraud and kickbacks” under state Medicaid laws. However, he is relying on a legal theory that has not prevailed in some prior court cases invol…
Diagnostic Errors Get Attention As Next Patient Safety Goal
PHYSICIAN LEADERS IN PATIENT SAFETY are turning up the heat on doctors to reduce the incidence of diagnostic errors. This is a topic few dared to openly discuss until recently. It is directly linked to Medicare and private payer efforts to crack down on medical errors. This development has profound …
Warning: Three-Fold Rise In EMR Adoption Predicted
CEO SUMMARY: Doctors are responding to news that up to $20 billion in federal funding is now available to help pay for their adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Demand for EMRs is expected to increase three-fold in the coming years. That means clinical labs and p…
Inverness Medical, ACON, LabInfotech, Kaiser Permenante
INVERNESS ACQUIRES TEST BUSINESS FROM ACON WITH A STRATEGY OF BECOMING DOMINANT in the consumer testing market and point-of- care (POC) testing sector, Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., of Waltham, Massachusetts, has actively acquired companies a…
Navigenics Buys Clinical Lab From Affymetrix Last Month
IF NAVIGENICS INC. HAD A SLOGAN to match its business model, it might be, “Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!” Last month the personal genomics testing company acquired a clinical testing laboratory. In a deal with Affymetrix, Inc., Navigenics purchased the …
Hey Doc! How Do You Rate With Zagat Health Survey?
CEO SUMMARY: Once patients become involved in managing their healthcare, they actively seek information that can help them make informed decisions. Health insurers are providing tools to help make this job easier. WellPoint teamed up with Zagat Survey to create …
Medically Unlikely Edits Are Back–and a Problem!
CEO SUMMARY: On January 1, 2009, CMS implemented Phase VIII of its policy on medically unlikely edits (MUEs) involving about 100 laboratory CPT Codes. It also began to deny whole claims, not just the “medically unlikely” parts of claims. After hearing of the problem in early …
April 6, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Effective May, 1, 2009, Laboratory Corporation of America will no longer be a contract provider for Regence BlueShield, head-quartered in Seattle, Washington. Regence notified physicians that it was ending its relationship with LabCorp “as a result of rising co…
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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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