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
AACC’s E-Lab Confab Emphasizes Lab Data
CEO SUMMARY: In just six years, experts at the AACC’s E-Lab gathering predict that 50% of all diagnostic testing will be done as point-of-care, homecare, or kit testing. If true, this will be a swift transformation in how labs organize themselves to manage the diagnostic testing needs o…
“March 11, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Down in Orlando, Florida, Cognescenti Health Institute, now opening a newly-constructed clinical laboratory, has selected LabDat, Inc. to provide browser-based lab test ordering and results reporting. In response to the anticipated changes caused by genomic and prot…
More Consolidation: Quest Acquires AML
CEO SUMMARY: In December, American Medical Laboratories, Inc. (AML) was preparing a second attempt to raise capital through an initial public offering (IPO). But a tempting purchase offer by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated led to a decision by AML’s owners to sell the company. This trans…
Lab Automation Subject Of “How To” Program
CEO SUMMARY: Mastering lab automation is more difficult than it appears. The first-ever “Lab Automation Boot Camp” is assembling experienced lab administrators who have experience (and scars) in automation and are committed to telling the real story about making automation successful….
How Dr. Al Nichols Changed The Lab Testing Marketplace
CEO SUMMARY: At a time when lab testing meant routine assays performed within a few miles of the collection, Albert L. Nichols, M.D. envisioned a centralized national laboratory devoted to performing specialized, highly-complex testing to clinicians everywhere. Not only did his vision bec…
Hospital Mergers Decline For Third Consecutive Year
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS involving hospitals declined for the third straight year, according to Modern Healthcare’s eighth annual study of hospital consolidation activity. During 2001, there were only 272 hospitals involved in mergers or acquisitions. This is a 14% decline from the 318 h…
ARUP Labs, ProxyMed, Unilab, Quest Diagnostics, Ventana, , Misys Molecular Diagnostics, WebMD, Varian
ARUP TO USE PROXYMED FOR BROWSER-BASED TEST ORDERS & RESULTS ARUP LABORATORIES, INC. and ProxyMed, Inc. signed an agreement that makes ProxyMed’s ProxyLabSM the preferred product for browser-based lab test ordering between physicians and ARUP’s hospi…
“February 18, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Lab execs and pathologists should pay close attention to this fact: Internet use by Americans significantly increased again last year. The Commerce Department reported that. as of September, 143 million people in the U.S. were using the Internet. This is 54% of the population and rep…
FNA Clinic Business Becomes Part of Unilab
CEO SUMMARY: Pathology has a new business model entering the marketplace. The goal of FNA Clinics of America, Inc. is to offer patients speedy access to the FNA procedure and provide referring physicians with a final diagnosis within hours of the FNA procedure. Unilab Corporation recogniz…
Court Orders Roche to Pay IGEN $505 Million in Damages
IT WAS A BIG COURT WIN for little IGEN International. On January 10, a jury in federal district court in Maryland decided that IGEN could terminate its licensing agreement with Roche Holding AG. The jury also awarded IGEN a total of $505 million, $105 million in com…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 11 – August 4, 2025
The Dark Report takes a look at new and more complex claims denials by payers, and suggests ways to battle this trend. Also, we offer 6 expert strategies for properly evaluating claims made by AI vendors.
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