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
Newly-Issued HIPAA Regs Generate Lots of Controversy
HIPAA IS A SUBJECT that is little understood and generates lots of concern among clinical laboratories and every type of healthcare provider that generates clinical data. On August 14, final privacy regulations were published in the Federal Register. The implementation deadline for most he…
Lab Competitors Pool Lab Data For Clinicians In British Columbia
CEO SUMMARY: In British Columbia, two commercial laboratory competitors have found common ground. BC Biomedical Laboratories and MDS Metro Laboratories are using LOINC to link their laboratory test databases. Physicians use a single system to access their patient’s test results, regardl…
Quest Diagnostics, CVS Pharmacies, Premier, Novation, Luminex, Careside.
QUEST DOES DEAL WITH CVS DRUGSTORES FOR LAB TESTING PATHOLOGISTS CONCERNED about pharmacists moving into the lab testing arena should closely watch the newly-announced relationship between Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Corporation. Starting this m…
“August 26, 2002 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Here’s a fact of significance. Economy.com reports that, in 2001, revenues from fixed-line telephone service declined for the first time in decades. Analysts say that consumers and businesses are shifting spending to wireless telephones. It is confirmation that our economy continues to mo…
Lab Testing to Boom During This Decade
CEO SUMMARY: Several recent acquisitions of lab test technology by billion-dollar diagnostics manufacturers reinforce a new reality in the healthcare marketplace: developing new diagnostic tests is faster, cheaper, and more profitable than developing new pharmaceutical products. This simp…
Florida Appeals Court Strikes Blow To Clinical Path Payment
LEGAL ARGUMENTS SUPPORTING payment for clinical pathology professional services were dealt a blow when Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal issued an unfavorable ruling on July 12 in Daytona Beach, Florida. “The import of the court’s ruling seems to be that a pathologist in Florida cannot …
Dade Behring Primed To Become Public Firm
CEO SUMMARY: Dade Behring is executing an ambitious plan to restructure its finances and become a public company. To reduce its debt burden, Dade’s three owners are giving up their stock. Banks and bondholders will swap a portion of their debt for shares of stock in Dade. Once the finan…
Specialty Laboratories’ New CEO Reveals How His Company Is Changing
“You will see a more tightly focused Specialty Labs. We won’t try and do everything, rather we will do what is important for our customers.” —Douglas S. Harrington, M.D CEO SUMMARY: In recent months, several events roiled the market for hos…
Big Premium Increases Drive Higher Profits at Nation’s HMOs
EVEN AS EMPLOYERS COMPLAIN about spiraling healthcare costs, the nation’s biggest health insurers are enjoying robust profits. That brings up the interesting question about whether providers, including laboratories, can get better pricing during the next year, since HMOs are again profita…
Unfolding Events at Unilab, Specialty Labs and Dynacare
RECENT WEEKS BROUGHT important developments to several public lab companies. Each development changes and alters the competitive marketplace for laboratory testing services. It was big news at Specialty Laboratories, Inc. when the troubled lab company signed a Plan of Correction (PO…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 14 – October 6, 2025
The Dark Report examines increasing healthcare costs for employers and how clinical labs can help those employers. Also, an in-depth case study shows how one hospital system regained its outreach program after originally ceding it to a national lab company, adding millions to the system’s bottom line.
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