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
Pacificare, IBM, Keane, MedicaLogic/MedScape, WebMD, DrKoop.com
PACIFICARE BEGINS SERIOUS RESTRUCTURING TO SHIFT EMPHASIS NOT SO MANY YEARS AGO, PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. was considered the quintessential embodiment of all that was expected to be good with managed healthcare. The company’s business model was studied and copied in…
Patent Access Limits Rapid HIV Testing in USA
CEO SUMMARY: Diagnostic manufacturers will begin to face the same controversy over public access to diagnostic testing technology that has dogged pharmaceutical companies in recent years. Public health officials and the military are unhappy with how Bio-Rad and its HIV-2 licensees have fa…
“January 7, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Here’s an early conjunction of: 1) consumer demand for sophisticated healthcare services; 2) healthcare ecommerce, and 3) telemedicine. In Cleveland and Boston, major health systems have introduced a Web-based “second opinions” service. In the case of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation…
2001’s Ten Big Stories Presage Future Direction
CEO SUMMARY: During 2001, few labs found themselves under intense pressure to change or react to dramatic events in the healthcare marketplace. Like 2000, this past year was marked by evolutionary progress, not revolutionary change. However, continuing signs indicate that consumers will p…
Tripath Imaging Ready To Roil Pap Test Market
CEO SUMMARY: Single-handedly, Cytyc Corporation has built the market for thin-layer Pap smear testing. Executives at TriPath Imaging are now ready to challenge Cytyc’s dominance by offering what they believe is a different value proposition to labs: an automated liquid preparation syste…
Laboratories Worth Watching With Stories as Yet Untold
BURIED IN MY FILES are any number of magnificent examples of innovative laboratory and pathology management that have yet to reach print in THE DARK REPORT. The limitation is space, influenced by the need to report on important breaking news. THE DARK REPORT is, by design, a compact and fast-to-read…
New Lab Company Ready To Open In Orlando, FL
CEO SUMMARY: Within the next 60 days, a brand-new clinical laboratory company will begin operations in Orlando, Florida. In the short term, it plans to offer routine testing to physicians’ offices. However, the real goal is to create a laboratory organization with integrated information…
DIANON Systems, United Health, Aetna, Quest Diagnostics, Orchid, AmeriPath
DIANON SYSTEMS INKS NATIONAL AGREEMENT WITH UNITEDHEALTHCARE A NEW NATIONAL AGREEMENT between DIANON Systems, Inc. and UnitedHealthcare was announced last week. The agreement allows DIANON Systems to provide pathology and genetic testing services to all the…
“December 17, 2001 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Laboratorians interested in the economic paradoxes that sunk the managed care industry might be interested in a new book, Oxymorons: The Myth of a U.S. Healthcare System. Author J.D. Kleinke provides a lucid analysis of the contradictions in our healthcare system. For example, Kleinke descri…
Largest Hospital Lab JV Making Steady Progress
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a daunting task to rationalize and integrate lab testing services among 21 hospitals spread out between Eastern Wisconsin and the south side of Chicago. Since the joint venture was announced April 2000, management initiatives have generated lower costs. But the number …
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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