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
California Pathologist Wins Medi-Cal Pay Case
CEO SUMMARY: It was a case that stretched back several years. Medi-Cal officials, wanting to pursue collection of what it deemed overpayments, claimed that the pathologist who was on the license of two defunct lab companies as medical director was personally liable for the $6.37 …
September 13, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Researchers at North Carolina State University are developing a method that might make it possible to diagnose and treat cancer through the use of special microneedles they developed. NCSU researchers use the microneedles to deliver nanoscale dyes based on quantum dots to locations u…
Labs Hope to Renegotiate 1.75% Medicare Fee Cuts
CEO SUMMARY: As Congress crafted its reform of the nation’s healthcare system last year, it asked healthcare providers to contribute substantially to the cost of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The lab industry will see a 1.75% cut in reimbursement for Medicare …
Pathology Records Found At Massachusetts Dump
CEO SUMMARY: Pathologists at four Massachusetts hospitals got a powerful reminder recently that a breach of protected health information (PHI) can occur at any time for the most unexpected reason. Earlier this month, the Boston Globe reported that the pathology reports and patien…
Lab Manager Training Program Coming to Four Cities This Fall
WHEN IT COMES TO PREPARING the next generation of laboratory managers to assume leadership roles, pathologists and lab administrators have few options. That is about to change. This fall, in four different cities, workshops will be conducted specifically to provide your laboratory’s most promising…
More Hospitals Now Use Point-of-Care Test Devices
CEO SUMMARY: Point-of-care testing (POCT) continues to gain acceptance in hospitals across the nation. One factor in this trend is improved technology for both the POC assays and the POC systems, each of which contributes to a more accurate and reproducible POC test result. But a…
HIEs Boost Fortunes of Community Hospital Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Regional health information exchanges (HIEs) are becoming more common. In Southern Indiana, the HealthLINC HIE is boosting the value that the community hospital laboratory provides to physicians. At the top of the list is expedited turnaround of laboratory test resul…
August 23, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
With the goal of developing biomarkers useful in diagnosing a variety of cancers, Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc., and Novartis AG announced a research partnership on July 30. It is an early example of a collaboration between a diagnostics company and a pharmaceutical com…
Actions of Ex-Employees Can Breach Lab Security
CEO SUMMARY: Lab managers should take steps to protect patient data and proprietary information. This includes customer lists, payer contracts, customer-specific pricing, sales force compensation information, lab testing intellectual property, and protected health information. Te…
AAB’s Suit Prevails over NY State Following 11 Years of Litigation
SCORE A BIG WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS! An appeals court in New York state has upheld a lower court ruling that the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) intentionally overcharged clinical laboratories for the costs of regulating clinical laboratories and blood banks, possibly goin…
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.
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