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
BC Labs’ LOINC Venture Now Carries Pharma Info
CEO SUMMARY: In British Columbia, two commercial laboratory companies are intense competitors. Yet, beginning in 2002, they jointly offered a single Web browser-based system for lab test results reporting. LOINC was the tool which linked their individual lab data repositories to the PathN…
Physician Group Path Ventures To Undergo OIG Review in 2005
IN ITS FISCAL YEAR 2005 WORK PLAN, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) will “identify and review relationships between physicians who furnish pathology services in their offices and outside pathology companies.” I…
Aligning Pathologist Productivity With Compensation Can Be Challenging
“Growing interest in ways to link a pathologist’s productivity to his/her compensation makes this a widely-discussed topic within many pathology group practices.” –Dennis Padget CEO SUMMARY: Part Three continues THE DARK REPORT’S series on meas…
Applied Digital’s Verichip™, Laboratory Corp. of America
IMPLANTABLE HUMAN IDENTIFICATION CHIP CLEARED BY FDA IT’S A DEVELOPMENT THAT INVOKES images from both George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. An implantable radio frequency identification microchip (RFID) for human use was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Adm…
“November 1, 2004 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
At a steady rate, healthcare is evolving toward a fully-electronic, Internet-based informatics environment. Here are some noteworthy mile-stones that illustrate this progress. During 2003, consumers’ use of the Web to access their health insurers’ Web sites increased 94%! So reports the Manhattan…
Memphis Path Lab JV Purchased By AEL
CEO SUMMARY: Memphis Pathology Labs’ two hospital owners and their JV partner, MDS, surprised many with the sale of the lab venture to American Esoteric Laboratories (AEL). It’s the end of a successful joint venture between several hospitals and a commercial laboratory company. It als…
Going, Going, Soon Gone: MDS Pulling Out of U.S.
CEO SUMMARY: Even as the best of its lab testing joint ventures with hospitals and health systems prove profitable, MDS Diagnostic Services is taking active steps to resolve its participation as a partner. In a candid interview, its President and CEO acknowledged the best attributes of su…
Anatomic Path Lab Weathers Florida’s Blitz of Hurricanes
EMERGENCY RESPONSE PLANS always get rewritten after a crisis. That’s certainly the case with Palm Beach Pathology, which survived the recent blitz of hurricanes that hammered Florida’s east coast. “Our laboratory is located in West Palm Beach, a city hit hard by Hurricane Fran…
Measuring Daily Productivity of Pathologists Can Be Complex
“Conflict in groups stems from trying to use one measurement system to meet all practice goals. This is the pitfall to avoid.” —Dennis Padget CEO SUMMARY: Productivity measurement systems are widely used outside the healthcare industry to bet…
LabOne, Humana, Pathology Reference Services of Maryland
LABONE AND HUMANA INK NATIONAL CONTRACT FOR LAB SERVICES IN A MOVE THAT REINFORCES its intention to compete as a national laboratory, LabOne, Inc., signed an expanded national agreement with Humana Inc. The contract, announced on August 31…
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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