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
More Hospitals Now Use Point-of-Care Test Devices
CEO SUMMARY: Point-of-care testing (POCT) continues to gain acceptance in hospitals across the nation. One factor in this trend is improved technology for both the POC assays and the POC systems, each of which contributes to a more accurate and reproducible POC test result. But a…
HIEs Boost Fortunes of Community Hospital Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Regional health information exchanges (HIEs) are becoming more common. In Southern Indiana, the HealthLINC HIE is boosting the value that the community hospital laboratory provides to physicians. At the top of the list is expedited turnaround of laboratory test resul…
August 23, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
With the goal of developing biomarkers useful in diagnosing a variety of cancers, Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc., and Novartis AG announced a research partnership on July 30. It is an early example of a collaboration between a diagnostics company and a pharmaceutical com…
New “Meaningful Use” Rules Are Easier on Docs
CEO SUMMARY: The federal government will spend $20 billion over the next four years to encourage every physician to use an electronic medical record (EMR) system. For labs, this increase in connectivity represents a significant marketing opportunity. However, the new federal rule…
Lab Industry Would Be Smart To Issue EMR Report Card
Guest Opinion by: Pat Wolfram Editor’s Note: For almost 20 years, Pat Wolfram has worked to develop electronic medical record systems at companies like MedicaLogic and GE Healthcare. His firm specializes in developing effective electronic interfaces that allow a physi…
Actions of Ex-Employees Can Breach Lab Security
CEO SUMMARY: Lab managers should take steps to protect patient data and proprietary information. This includes customer lists, payer contracts, customer-specific pricing, sales force compensation information, lab testing intellectual property, and protected health information. Te…
Specimen Volume Declines Reported By Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp
IN REPORTING SECOND QUARTER EARNINGS, there was enough difference in the numbers announced by Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Laboratory Corporation of America to catch the attention of financial analysts. Revenue at LabCorp was up for the quarter while revenue a…
AAB’s Suit Prevails over NY State Following 11 Years of Litigation
SCORE A BIG WIN FOR THE GOOD GUYS! An appeals court in New York state has upheld a lower court ruling that the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) intentionally overcharged clinical laboratories for the costs of regulating clinical laboratories and blood banks, possibly goin…
August 2, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
It was a productive second quarter for MED-TOX Scientific, Inc., of St. Paul, Minnesota. Total revenue climbed 18.1%, to $25.2 million, compared to $21.3 million for the same period in 2009. Operating income grew to $1.5 million, an increase of 176%. Known as a drugs of abuse testing…
Patient Privacy Laws Create Legal Risk for Labs
CEO SUMMARY: Before the nation’s healthcare system can achieve the integrated universal EHR, it must fix the crazy contradictions in state and federal laws governing patient privacy. There is discordance between federal law and state law that defines the role and responsibility…
CURRENT ISSUE
Volume XXXII, No. 10 – July 14, 2025
This issue is strong on different flavors of enforcement that clinical laboratories, whether they want to or not, will need to contend with. Lab stakeholders provide insights that medical labs need to brace for more action to counter pending test reimbursement rate cuts under PAMA. Also, this issue provides the legal and regulatory landscape for clinical labs’ use of AI and how it evolves with the technology. AI is creating legal uncertainty for clinical labs, especially around data privacy and FDA oversight of AI tools in diagnostics.
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