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
OIG Issues New Report on Medicare 2023 Lab Spending
WITHIN THE LATEST REPORT ON MEDICARE PART A CLINICAL LABORATORY SPENDING during 2023 is information about the financial impact that price cuts to the Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule (CLFS) have had on clinical laboratories. As mandated by the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA), the rep…
OIG Issues New Report on Medicare 2023 Lab Spend
CEO SUMMARY: When the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued its latest report on Medicare spending in 2023 for clinical laboratory tests, it attracted relatively little attention from the lab industry. Maybe other issues—such a…
HHS Revises HIPAA Privacy, Security Rule
CEO SUMMARY: Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are proposing significant changes in what observers are calling a major revision to HIPAA’s requirements for protected health information (PHI) and cybersecurity. HHS issued a statement that the objective of the…
Negotiating Path Contracts with Hospitals, Third Parties
PART THREE OF A SERIES TO HELP ANATOMIC PATHOLOGY GROUPS THRIVE AND PROSPER during these challenging times, The Dark Report presents this third installment in a series that identifies clinical, operational, and financial strategies pathology groups…
Federal Lawsuit Favors Lab Accused of AKS Violations
CEO SUMMARY: This whistleblower lawsuit initially charged a clinical lab with, among other things, violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and EKRA. After the judge ruled to exclude the AKS and EKRA claims, the whistleblower refiled the case and included claims the lab paid commissions for th…
January 27, 2025, Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News
On Jan. 16, 2025, Paul Mango died at the age of 65. With his passing, the profession of laboratory medicine lost an ally and a friend. In the mid-1990s, while at the Institute for Transfusion Medicine in Pittsburgh, Mango convinced the CEOs of 40 hospitals to collaborate and create t…
Pathologist Asks ChatGPT, Google Notebook to Predict LDT Trial Outcome
On his blog last month, pathologist Bruce Quinn, MD, PhD, published the answers provided by two artificial intelligence chatbots after he asked each to analyze the legal briefs submitted to federal courts in Texas where lab plaintiffs are challenging the FDA’s laboratory developed test (LDT) final …
Pathologist Asks ChatGPT to Predict LDT Trial Outcome
CEO SUMMARY: On his blog last month, pathologist Bruce Quinn, MD, PhD, published the answers provided by two artificial intelligence chatbots after he asked each to analyze the legal briefs submitted to federal courts in Texas where lab plaintiffs are challenging the FDA’s laboratory de…
Multi-year Prison Sentence for Genetic Test Fraud
CEO SUMMARY: In recent years, federal prosecutors are filing ever greater numbers of civil actions and criminal indictments against individuals accused of healthcare fraud and abuse. This includes prosecutions of doctors alleged to have received illegal kickbacks from lab companies in exc…
Pathology Compensation in Different Settings, including Hospitals
CEO SUMMARY: This second installment on the series about boosting pathologist compensation uses data collected during a survey of 1,400 pathologists in 230 pathology practices by the Panel of National Pathology Leaders (PNPL). Two experienced pathology consultants identify the most effect…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 6 – April 21, 2025
Now that a federal judge has vacated the FDA’s LDT rule, The Dark Report analyzes the judgement and notes the various steps the FDA could take in response. Also, lab testing at pharmacies is proving to be less successful than was once anticipated.
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