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
Three San Diego Labs Stop Competitive Bid Demo
CEO SUMMARY: Last Tuesday, a federal judge handed a big court victory to the three plaintiffs in their lawsuit seeking to delay or stop implementation of the Medicare Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demonstration pilot in the San Diego area. In his written opinion, the judge ruled in favor…
April 4 Fed Court Ruling Opened Door to Injunction
CEO SUMMARY: Federal Judge Thomas J. Whelan’s ruling on three key legal points on Friday, April 4, was the first court victory needed by three San Diego-area labs in their lawsuit to prevent the Medicare Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demonstration in San Diego from proceeding. Judge Wh…
Federal Judge to Look at CMS Rule-Making in Anti-Markup Case
THERE’S BEEN WIDESPREAD INTEREST across the lab industry to news that on March 31, Uropath, LLC, won a preliminary injunction in its case to prevent the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing an anti-markup regulation for patho…
Hospital Lab Evolves Into A Consultative Resource
CEO SUMMARY: Every laboratory recognizes it has the knowledge and expertise to become more of a consultative resource to its referring physicians. At 248-bed J.T. Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, New York, the laboratory director took advantage of administration’s interest in improving …
Lab Automation Viewed As Essential Solution
CEO SUMMARY: A merger of three hospitals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, forced PinnacleHealth’s lab director to find new ways to increase efficiency. A lab automation project helped improve turnaround time and staff productivity and cut costs. The cost savings is about 50 cents per test, …
Quality Guru Joseph M. Juran Dies Six Weeks Ago at Age 103
HE DESCRIBED THE 20TH CENTURY as the Century of Productivity and expected the 21st Century to be the Century of Quality. Noted quality guru and management consultant Joseph M. Juran, Ph.D., died in his home in Rye, New York, on February 28 at the age of 103. Juran was the second seminal figure in th…
April 14, 2008 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Psychiatry may soon have its first set of objective clinical laboratory blood tests for mood disorders. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine recently published their findings in Molecular Psychiatry. Working with 11 different genes, they described a “predictive …
Hospital Lab Takes CMS To Court in CLIA Case
CEO SUMMARY: A California hospital challenged CMS in federal court over the threatened loss of its lab’s CLIA certificate. CMS threatened to revoke the certificate in 2007 and stop paying the hospital’s Medicare and Medi-Cal lab bills. In January, Victor Valley Community Hospital won …
Labs Should Prepare for Tighter CLIA Enforcement
CEO SUMMARY: Lab directors and pathologists should take notice of disturbing new developments in enforcement of CLIA regulations. During the past year, CMS officials have revoked the CLIA certification of several hospital laboratories for what are, essentially, inadvertent violations of p…
Medicare Competitive Bid Lawsuit Heads toward a Judge’s Ruling
LOOK TO APRIL 7 FOR THE NEXT DEVELOPMENT in the federal court case filed by three San Diego-area laboratories challenging the Medicare Laboratory Competitive Bidding Demonstration Project. That’s when the judge is expected to rule on the case. The latest development was on March 14, when federal l…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 12 – August 25, 2025
In an exclusive interview, a laboratory industry M&A specialist discusses what’s driving lab outreach sales to national lab companies. Also, The Dark Report analyzes ways in which pathology and clinical labs can profitably partner with pharmaceutical companies.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
Lab leaders rely on THE DARK REPORT for actionable intelligence on important developments in the business of laboratory testing. Maximize the money you make-and the money you keep! Best of all, it is released every three weeks!
Sign up for TDR Insider
Join the Dark Intelligence Group FREE and get TDR Insider FREE!
Never miss a single update on the issues that matter to you and your business.