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
June 30, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Will microbiologists soon be testing a patient’s cellphone for clinical diagnostic purposes? Researchers at the University of Oregon recently conducted a study and determined that cellphones have a similar microbiome to the skin of the person who owns the device. The study determin…
Could Health Insurers Be at War with Clinical Labs?
CEO SUMMARY: It may sound ridiculous to assert that the nation’s largest health insurers are now “waging war” against clinical labs. However, some very smart people in the profession of laboratory medicine are expressing this opinion. To support such a conclusion, they point to paye…
BRLI-Horizon BCBS Lawsuit Is Window to Payer Actions
CEO SUMMARY: Do “actions speak louder than words?” In New Jersey, one lab company sued a major health insurer for “breach of contract and fraud.” Court documents include claims describing how one health insurer became ever more sophisticated in how it played one public lab company…
Calloway Labs Settles with Feds, West Virginia
CEO SUMMARY: West Virginia is the second state in recent years to settle claims of Medicare and Medicaid fraud filed against Calloway Laboratories of Woburn, Massachusetts. Last month, the pain management lab company agreed to pay $4.675 million to resolve that case, while not admitting l…
June 09, 2014 Intelligence: Late-Breaking Lab News”
Inpatient utilization has declined in Boston, Indianapolis, and Newark. That’s the finding of a new report issued May 27 by Kaufman Hall, a consulting firm based in Skokie, Illinois. The data was collected by Tufts Medical Center in Boston; Barnabas Health in West Or…
Speakers in New Orleans Offer Important Insights
CEO SUMMARY: In coming years, there will be multiple challenges and opportunities for the nation’s clinical laboratories and pathology groups. That was one common theme heard from the 90 speakers and panelists at the 19th annual Executive War College on Laboratory and Pathology Manageme…
May 19, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
How about a hospital that doesn’t have a medical laboratory but issues lab test reports to patients? This unusual development happened in India recently. The Free Press Journal of Mumbai, India, reported earlier this month that government health officials had conducted a surprise inspectio…
Labs Face Bad Debt Exposure from New Patients in ACA Plans
LABS MAY BE AT RISK for the total cost of lab testing performed for patients who enroll in a subsidized insurance plan through the ACA’s health insurance exchanges (now called the marketplaces), but never pay their premiums during the 90-grace period. The federal Centers for Medicare &…
UCLA Pathologists to Open Joint Venture Lab in Shanghai
PATHOLOGISTS at the University of California Los Angeles Department of Pathology will participate in a unique commercial laboratory company that will be based in Shanghai, China. On April 8, UCLA announced a partnership agreement with Centre Testing International Corp….
April 28, 2014 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
In recent years, a series of decisions involving molecular diagnostics tests made by Medicare officials and the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) have caused much disruption in the clinical laboratory industry. In response to these developments, on April 16, the California Clinical L…
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.
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