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
Labs Are Finding Ways to Link Variety of EMRs
CEO SUMMARY: Three speakers at the Executive War College last month in Miami, Florida, offered case studies on how labs are developing electronic interface gateways between their LISes and EMRs in the offices of client physicians. Physician clients frequently want lab data to be among the…
June 4, 2007 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
When the Lab Quality Confab convenes in Atlanta on September 19-20, 2007, it will feature 40 speakers and sessions on how labs and pathology groups are using quality management methods to improve the performance of their lab organizations. If your laboratory would like to showcase its succes…
LabCorp & Sunrise CEOs Score at Exec War College
CEO SUMMARY: This year’s Executive War College on Lab and Pathology Management delivered major surprises, along with first news of breakthrough innovations and emerging trends. Managed care contracting for lab testing services was this year’s premier topic and there was keen interest …
Beckman Coulter, Biosite, Inverness, MedTox, Group Health, Henry Ford, Johns Hopkins
BECKMAN COULTER HOPES TO COMPLETE ACQUISITION OF BIOSITE FINGERS ARE CROSSED at Beckman Coulter, Inc., as the company hopes to complete its acquisition of Biosite, Inc., by tomorrow night (May 15 at midnight). Its original offer to …
Emerging Global Trends in How Labs Are Using “Distributed Computing”
“In several different countries, laboratories already use ‘distributed computing’, in the form of a single LIS data center that provides informatics services to as many as 25 laboratories in a region. The trend is to increase interoperability and portability of the i…
ACLA Prepares to Tackle Tough Lab Industry Issues
CEO SUMMARY: At its annual meeting last month, the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA) rolled out a new campaign to educate Congress, government and private payers, and the American public about the value of laboratory testing. Called “Results for Life,” the campaign is a …
May 14, 2007 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
With so many baby boomers in lab management ranks making preparations for their retirement, a question now asked often is “what can I do as an encore?” Recently, THE DARK REPORT caught up with Dixie McFadden, who retired from her position as Laboratory Administrator at Kaiser Permanente N…
Quest Diagnostics Regains Contract to Manage British Hospital Lab
HAVING DECLARED IN JANUARY THAT IT WANTED TO EXPAND OVERSEAS, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated announced on March 22 that it had been awarded a five-year contract to provide laboratory services to a hospital trust and primary care trust in London, England. Quest Diagnostics will provi…
Quest Bites: Will Pay $2 Billion for AmeriPath
CEO SUMMARY: From its inception in the mid-1990s as a pathology physician practice management (PPM) company, AmeriPath was a business that its investors created specifically to be sold. Now Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is stepping up to pay a princely ransom of $2 billion to make AmeriP…
FDA Sends Warning Letter to Abbott Laboratories
CEO SUMMARY: On March 13, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Abbott Laboratories’ Chairman and CEO, Miles D. White. The letter identified nine quality system violations and requested a satisfactory response by August 15, 2007. The warning letter is based on …
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.
See the full table of contentsHow Much Laboratory Business Intelligence Have You Missed?
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