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
Esoterix, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, California Hospitals, Myriad Genetics
ESOTERIX, INC. LAUNCHES TEST REPORTS VIA WEB BROWSER WEB-ACCESSED LAB TEST REPORTING is now available at Esoterix, Inc., based in Austin, Texas. The accomplishment represents a major milestone for the lab company. It now has a common lab test reporting capability that draws…
Patients “Bypassing” Doctors To Order Tests From Labs
FOR THE SECOND TIME IN eight weeks, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has a printed a prominent story about trends in laboratory testing. Last Friday, June 8, 2001, the WSJ’s “Health Journal” column featured a story entitled “Patients Bypass Doctors to Get Medical Tests Directly From La…
UnitedHealth Using Lab Data To Improve Health Outcomes
CEO SUMMARY: Managed Care is shifting into a new operational model that places prime emphasis on using clinical information to drive improvements in the quality of healthcare. At UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, early efforts to analyze clinical data have…
Investors Pump $107 Million Into Unilab’s Stock Offering
HERE’S ENCOURAGING NEWS for owners of independent regional laboratories: investors on Wall Street continue to like the laboratory business…a lot! Latest confirmation of this fact came on June 6, when Unilab Corporation of Tarzana, California funded its initial public offering (I…
University of Minnesota Pathologists Organize Tissue Archives
CEO SUMMARY: Pathologists at the University of Minnesota Medical School are working to create an electronic data base that covers the more than 100 years of autopsy cases that have been archived and stored. Their goal is to use this information to improve teaching and to further research …
“June 11, 2001 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Here’s a late-breaking story: Tropical Storm Allison hammered Houston and East Texas over the weekend. More than 30 inches of rain caused wide-spread flooding in the Houston Metropolitan Area. Hospitals in the Medical Center were hard hit. Memorial Hermann Hospital closed on Saturd…
Lab Owners Selling Stock To Harvest Big Profits
CEO SUMMARY: Three huge stock sales involving the nation’s largest laboratories have been announced in recent weeks. If these stock sales are enthusiastically received by Wall Street investors, independent regional lab owners may benefit because of higher valuations for clinical laborat…
Unilab Files Registration For IPO of $115 Million
CEO SUMMARY: During the 1990s, Unilab used the twin strategies of lab acquisitions and aggressive sales and marketing to fuel rapid growth in specimen volumes and net revenues. However, California’s ultra-competitive managed care market and severe financial problems during the latter ha…
Specimen Transport Box Ready for Labs to Use
CEO SUMMARY: Maintaining the integrity of lab specimens from referring client to laboratory is one of the recurring headaches of the lab business. Now there’s a new product which eliminates the use of dry ice and can maintain appropriate transport temperatures for up to 96 hours. Called…
Changing Lab Industry Trends Identified at War College
CEO SUMMARY: Clinical laboratories and pathology group practices are beginning to respond to a new set of marketplace trends. Speaker after speaker at this EXECUTIVE WAR COLLEGE included new business strategies not heard in past years. Probably the most notable difference is a growing emp…
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?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.