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
ProxyMed & Medscape Select Atlas LabWorks™
CEO SUMMARY: ProxyMed and MedScape just announced contracts with Atlas Development Corporation. Both companies will integrate Atlas LabWorks™ for electronic test ordering and results reporting into software products they sell to labs and physicians’ offices. Such collaborations again …
Beckman Coulter Positions Itself For Biotech Testing Continuum
CEO SUMMARY: Here’s a little-known side to diagnostics giant Beckman Coulter Inc. Its efforts to expand into the fields of biomedical R&D and clinical research is a strategic shift designed to give it early access to promising technology that could be introduced into the clinical di…
Hermann Lab Rebuilt in Weeks, Reopens With Entire Hospital
REBUILDING AN ENTIRE HOSPITAL laboratory on a crash basis is a rare occurrence. But in just six weeks, the lab team at Houston’s Memorial Hermann Hospital accomplished that feat. In June, tropical storm Allison dropped 36 inches of rain on Houston in just two days. …
Sunquest, Towers Perrin, Aetna, Quest Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, Careside
SUNQUEST REAFFIRMS LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO COPATHPLUS PRODUCT EXPECT A FASCINATING competitive battle in the market for anatomic pathology software now that Cerner Corporation is acquiring Dynamic Healthcare Technologies, Inc. (DHT) DHT is the developer an…
“November 26, 2001 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Here’s clear evidence that laboratories will play a big role in healthcare’s future. AMIDEX Funds, Inc. just launched the first index-based mutual fund that focuses on cancer companies. Called “AMIDEX Cancer Innovations and Healthcare Mutual Fund” (symbol: CNCRX), it holds in…
Labs in NY & Wash, DC Get Anthrax Test Orders
CEO SUMMARY: In both New York City and Washington, DC, widespread publicity about exposure to anthrax generated a steady volume of test requests. Clinical labs in both cities adopted similar management strategies to deal with the sudden public interest in anthrax testing. One common step …
New Legal Trends Now Affecting Pathologists
CEO SUMMARY: During the past 36 months, quiet and significant changes have occurred to certain legal issues involving anatomic pathology services. The resulting new environment exposes pathology groups to different types of threats, particularly to their sources of income. This intelligen…
Roche, Digene, Centrex, Labtest.com, Specialty Labs, Tripath Imaging
ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS POSITIONED TO SERVE PUBLIC HEALTH LABS HEIGHTENED CONCERNS over bioterrorist attacks have accelerated plans within the public health lab sector to acquire state-of-the art diagnostic technology in DNA typing and enzyme immunoassay. Roche Diagnostics has in…
Pricing Models and RFP Terms For Web Orders and Results
CEO SUMMARY: Browser-based systems for lab test ordering and results reporting are now offered by a growing number of vendors. Early adopter labs are successfully acquiring these systems and offering them to their physician-clients. In this third installment of our special series, Cory Fi…
Certain Medicare Lab Reforms May Make It Through Congress
ONE CONSEQUENCE of the terrorist attacks on September 11 is that proposed reforms to Medicare lab reimbursement policies have assumed a lesser priority with the current Congress. Despite that fact, Congress must still address the day-to-day requirements of managing government functions. Thus, there …
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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