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
Canadian Pathologists Start PT Testing for ER/PR
CEO SUMMARY: Experts point out that widely publicized episodes of lab testing deficiencies in several provinces are signs that chronic underfunding of lab testing services is a key factor in these failures. To restore public confidence in breast cancer testing, the Canadian Association of…
August 18, 2008 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
There’s a new lab company in New York City. Manhattan Physicians Laboratory, Inc. (MPL) was recently launched by two former executives from Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. Thomas Golubic is MPL’s President and William Nouri is Vice President and Lab Operations Di…
Vitamin D Test Volumes Doubled in Past Year
CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, labs report a near doubling in the volume of vitamin D tests they are performing. This is a success for laboratory medicine and an appropriate use of diagnostics tests as physicians strive for early detection and early intervention of vitamin D deficiency. …
53% Drop in Mortality from Lab Report Change
CEO SUMMARY: At Washington Hospital Center, it was unclear if the use of a rapid molecular assay for blood infections was changing outcomes until a new, real-time lab results reporting protocol required the lab to deliver the test results personally to the attending physician in real time…
Labs Should Build Payer Relationships to Improve Commodity Pricing
“Health plans are interested in improving outcomes and saving money on complex, expensive cases because that’s where the money is. At the same time, that’s an opportunity for labs to help health plans cut costs while also improving quality. ” —Kerry Kaplan, Presi…
CMS Anti-Markup Rules Target In-Office Ancillaries
CEO SUMMARY: Medicare officials are again attempting to rein in what they consider to be potentially abusive forms of in-office ancillary services, including anatomic pathology. Proposed new rules published this month would clarify and perhaps expand the application of the Medicare anti-m…
July 28, 2008 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Last Monday, UroPath, Inc., an Arlington, Texas, company operating anatomic pathology laboratory condominium complexes in several states, disclosed its sale to HealthTronics, Inc., of Austin, Texas. Sales price was $7.75 million. UroPath’s former owners are urologi…
NY & Calif. Act to Stop Web Gene Testing Firms
CEO SUMMARY: Events in the past month indicate that a war is developing between Internet-based companies offering genetic tests to consumers and state and federal health regulators. New York state authorities have sent letters to at least 31 such companies in recent month…
Toronto Pathologists Use Whole-Slide Imaging
CEO SUMMARY: It was the “frozen section problem” and productivity issues that led pathologists at the three-hospital University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto to implement a fully-digital pathology system with whole-slide imaging in 2006. Use of digital, whole-slide …
Is Digital Path Imaging Ready for Prime Time?
CEO SUMMARY: Digital pathology imaging systems are finding uses in all phases of drug discovery (discovery, pre-clinical, clinical trials), as well as education, research, and clinical. One hurdle to widespread adoption of fully digitized, whole-slide pathology imaging systems is FDA clea…
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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