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
CA, FL, BC Move Forward With Lab Test Contracts
CEO SUMMARY: Medicaid agencies in the bellwether states of California and Florida continue to push ahead with plans to revise laboratory test contract policies. In British Columbia, private laboratory companies face an uncertain future as the provincial health administration maneuvers to …
HPV Vaccine Developers Racing to Marketplace
CEO SUMMARY: At least ten companies are working on an HPV vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer. The leading two companies have Phase III clinical trials under way and expect to earn regulatory approval within the next 24 to 30 months. The speedy arrival of an HPV vaccine in the market…
Medicare Changes Policy On New Med Procedures
CEO SUMMARY: Faced with a literal tidal wave of new medical procedures, new therapeutic drugs, and new diagnostic tests, Medicare is crafting a unique strategy. As a new clinical option reaches the market, Medicare will reimburse—but only if the patient participates in a clinical study …
Aureon Biosciences, Bayer, Competitive Technologies, Rare Blood Infections, Kaiser Permanente
KEVIN JOHNSON AND VIJAY AGGARWAL JOIN AUREON BIOSCIENCES TWO VETERAN LAB EXECUTIVES are back in the business. Kevin Johnson is now the Chairman at Aureon Biosciences Corporation and Vijay Aggarwal, Ph.D. is President and CEO. The fact that both men chose to join Aureon Bios…
“November 22, 2004 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Community-based pathologists get a featured role on the Learning Channel’s Inside Health program. It will be aired Sunday, November 28 at 8:30 am EST. The Learning Channel used pathologists affiliated with Pathology Service Associates (PSA) to help create …
Homocysteine Patent Triggers Royalty Demand
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory Corporation of America fought a patent infringement case against the holder of the homocysteine assay patent and lost after a five-year court battle. Now Competitive Technologies, Inc. (CTI), armed with its victory in federal court, is ready to negotiate royalty ar…
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…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 15 – October 27, 2025
The Dark Report examines the momentous decision by the VA to switch accreditors from The Joint Commission to CAP. Also, we analyze retractions in pathology journals to gain insight into scientific fraud.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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