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
March 29, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
News sources are reporting a rumor that President Barack Obama intends to appoint Donald Berwick, M.D., as Director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Berwick is currently Director of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, Massachus…
Baylor Pathologists Form Lab with US Oncology
CEO SUMMARY: In Dallas, Pathologists Bio-Medical Laboratories is part of a new laboratory partnership that includes Baylor Health Care System, Texas Oncology, and US Oncology. The four partners ponied up a total of $40 million in cash and debt to build a state-of-the art laboratory in a 1…
Two New Pathology Models Will Soon Be Tried in Dallas
CEO SUMMARY: There are notable aspects to how and why four unlikely partners are banding together to invest $40 million and create the nation’s newest reference and esoteric testing laboratory. It was the pathologists at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, Texas, who originated the vi…
Pathology Errors in Canada Make National News Once Again
YET ONE MORE TIME, pathology errors are making national headlines in Canada. News of errors by a surgeon and a pathologist in a Windsor, Ontario, hospital caught provincial health officials off balance. The simple story is that an experienced surgeon at 305-bed Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital …
Preparing for New Lab Role In Personalized Medicine
CEO SUMMARY: Laboratory medicine is about to find itself between the two jaws of a powerful vise. One jaw is pending major legislative overhaul of the entire healthcare system, along with dwindling reimbursement as Medicare and Medicaid runs out of money. The other jaw is personalized med…
Assessing the Year-End Financials For Nation’s Biggest Lab Companies
IN RECENT WEEKS, the last of the nation’s largest public laboratory companies released year-end 2009 financial reports. Each lab firm’s financial report provides useful insights about active trends in the lab testing marketplace, particularly in lab testing referred by office-based physicians. …
Pace of Lab Acquisitions Increased during 2009
CEO SUMMARY: After two years of relatively slow sales of clinical labs, there is pent up demand for lab acquisitions and a declining supply of independent labs available for sale. That’s the assessment of one expert on laboratory mergers and acquisitions, who predicts that the accelerat…
Predict 2010 To Be Busy For Lab Owners & Buyers
CEO SUMMARY: Along with a recovering economy, the possibility of an increase in the capital gains tax rate for 2011 may encourage owners of clinical labs and anatomic pathology companies to sell their businesses during 2010. That could make 2010 a busy year for laboratory…
Multispectral Tests Use “Smart” Systems To Analyze Tissue
CEO Summary: Pathologists at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania are using a new system that combines image analysis software and algorithms to evaluate images containing numerous stains and biomarkers. Pathologists teach the system to identify tumor cells and distinguish them …
Beckman Coulter, Olympus, LabCorp, Anthem, WellPoint, Medtox, University of Toronto
BECKMAN COULTER REPORTS EARNINGS THAT INCLUDE OLYMPUS THERE WAS A BIG JUMP in fourth quarter revenue at Beckman Coulter Inc., of Brea, California, which increased by 22% over the previous year, to $989.6 million. This number included $120.2 million in reven…
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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