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
GSK and Abbott Team up For Companion Diagnostic
CEO SUMMARY: Although GlaxoSmithKline PLC is several years away from having a deliverable product from its Antigen Specific Cancer Immunoassay (ASCI) Program, it has a development deal with Abbott Laboratories to produce a companion diagnostic test for ASCI-based products. The in…
October 12, 2009 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
In the continuing saga of health reform efforts in Washington, DC, the clinical laboratory industry got a bit of good news, at least for the moment. In recent weeks, the Senate Finance Committee removed a provision to raise $750 million annually by enacting a tax on clinical lab revenue. The proposed…
Lab Test Fiasco Unfolding In Auckland, New Zealand
CEO SUMMARY: This may be the shortest lab testing contract honeymoon ever. Just ten days after LabTests became responsible for an exclusive, eight-year lab testing contract covering the Auckland area, problems with its service and operation caused District Health Board (DHB) offi…
Audacious Lab Contract Shows Downside Risks
CEO SUMMARY: In Auckland, New Zealand, unfolding events may soon reveal the answer to a long-standing question in pathology: is there a point where deep cuts to payment for lab testing causes such a decline in quality and service that other health services undergo disruption? Dis…
$750 Million Lab Test Tax Proposed in Senate Bill
CEO SUMMARY: A bill that may be the U.S. Senate’s framework for reforming the U.S. healthcare system calls for a tax of $750 million per year to be paid by lab testing companies. The proposed bill also calls for a reduction in Medicare reimbursement for lab testing. One positiv…
Textbook Marketing Fuels Demand for BRCA Test
CEO SUMMARY: In today’s lab testing marketplace, the hot ticket is to introduce a proprietary or patent-protected molecular test for cancer. The sales and marketing model inspiring many of these new lab testing companies is that used by Myriad Genetics, Inc. since it introduced…
Some Docs Fail to Tell Patients About Critical Results 25% of Time
PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIANS often do not report patients’ lab test results, according to a recent study of 5,434 patients aged 50 to 69. That won’t be news to most lab directors and pathologists. But there is something new and useful in this study. Its findings are revealing for three reasons. One, …
Medicare Pays Doctors To Switch to E-Prescribing
CEO SUMMARY: It’s a major step on the road to integration of healthcare informatics. During the next few years, the Medicare program is offering financial incentives to encourage office-based physicians to adopt e-prescribing. This is a positive development for local laboratori…
E-Prescribing Functions that Labs Can Offer Office-Based Physicians
IN RESPONSE TO MEDICARE AND PRIVATE PAYER efforts to increase physicians’ use of e-prescribing, 4Medica, Inc., of Culver City, California, was one of the first laboratory informatics vendors to add an effective e-prescribing capability to its lab test order and results reporting sy…
E-prescribing Is Example of Need For Labs to Support Connectivity
EFFORTS TO MOTIVATE PHYSICIANS to adopt e-prescribing is just one part of a wider trend in healthcare. The drive to achieve full integration of health informatics is gathering momentum. “By itself, the need for clinical laboratories to support e-prescribing is becoming an important competitive dif…
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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