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
CMS Ready To Hack Away at Cost of Lab Testing
CEO SUMMARY: In July, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published three proposed rules which would allow it to act independently of Congress to set prices for clinical laboratory testing and pathology services. Analyses of these proposed rules indicate that th…
September 9, 2013 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
bioMérieux is on the move. Last week it announced that it would pay $450 million to purchase privately-held BioFire Diagnostics of Salt Lake City, Utah. BioFire has a solid tech- nology base in molecular diagnostics. It developed and currently markets its FilmArray…
Labs Push to Cut Costs As Budgets, Prices Shrink
CEO SUMMARY: Cost-cutting is now the prime directive at progressive labs because nearly every laboratory organization in the United States is under sustained financial pressure. This is due to shrinking budgets for hospital labs and more aggressive price-cutting by private payers. Even Ob…
August 19, 2013 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
There is a billion-dollar laboratory acquisition underway in Ontario, Canada. LifeLabs Medical Services is moving ahead with its planned purchase of CML HealthCare for US$917 million. The deal was made public on June 25 and, because it represents a major consolidatio…
House Bill Introduced to Address Rate-Setting for Molecular Tests
FEW PATHOLOGISTS OR CLINICAL laboratory directors would argue against revising the current Medicare payment policies for molecular and genetic tests. A bill proposed in Congress would do just that. The process now in use by Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) is inefficient and opaque, accord…
July 29, 2013 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Another national health insurance corporation is preparing to institute pre-authorization for genetic tests. Cigna Corporation announced on July 23 that it had selected InformedDNA, to administer its new genetic testing and counseling program. Pathologists and laboratory administrators …
Aetna Threatens to Expel Docs for Out-of-Network Lab Referrals
MANAGED CARE PLANS are taking aggressive steps to keep clinical lab testing within their preferred networks. In particular, Aetna, Inc., is earning a reputation as one of the toughest insurers in this regard. Most recently, in a letter sent to at least one network physician, Aetna w…
July 08, 2013 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
In China, independent clinical laboratories are in a fast-growth mode. That’s the conclusion of RnRMarketResearch in a newly-issued survey of the clinical laboratory testing market in China. It estimates this market segment at US$407 million annually. RnR says that three lab companies meet …
Big Lab Industry Stories Reveal Trouble Ahead
CEO SUMMARY: One after another, a series of breaking news stories points to more rough waters ahead for the entire clinical lab industry. Of greatest interest is the ongoing questions about when clinical labs and pathology groups will get paid for the molecular test claims they have submi…
OIG Tells CMS It Could Save $910 Million on Lab Test Costs
IT IS ONE MORE POWERFUL SIGN of the changing times. Last week, the Office of the Inspector (OIG) publicly released a study it had done of the prices paid for lab testing and how the Medicare program could use this information to reduce the cost of Part B clinical laboratory testing. It was The W…
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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