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
Many Questions About FDA Regulation of LDTs
CEO SUMMARY: Ask most pathologists and laboratory administrators about the FDA’s intent to regulate laboratory-developed tests (LDTs), and they will likely answer that it is to control web-based direct-to-consumer lab testing companies and the rapidly- growing number of proprie…
Hospital-Owned Medical Groups Serving More Patients Per Doc
IT’S WIDELY KNOWN BY PATHOLOGISTS and laboratory administrators that hospitals and health systems are buying up private medical practices at an accelerating rate. This is a trend that favors hospital laboratory outreach programs, but may not be auspicious for the national laboratories. For this re…
Systems Approach For Pre-Authorization Of Genetic Tests
CEO Summary: Pre-authorization of expensive genetic and molecular tests is a threat to local clinical laboratories and pathology groups if payers exclude them from provider networks in favor of labs which bid the lowest prices. But one major healthcare corporation believes there …
Quality Strategy Earns Honor for SD Laboratory
CEO SUMMARY: Here’s a new lab product launch with a surprise twist. Upon earning FDA clearance for its new HIV Ag/Ab Combo Assay this spring, Abbott Diagnostics selected a hospital laboratory in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to be the nation’s first clinical lab to offer the ass…
October 4, 2010 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
In Hawaii, two competing clinical laboratory companies have joined forces to save a medical technologist (MT) training program from closure. Together, Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii, LLP (CLH–owned by Sonic Healthcare), and Diagnostic Laboratory Services, …
More Hospitals Consider PAML’s Lab JV Model
CEO SUMMARY: One joint venture at a time, PAML is convincing hospital and health system CEOs about the benefits of building a thriving laboratory outreach business. For their part, facing budget cutbacks and a decline in Medicare reimbursement, more hospital administrato…
Dr Lal PathLabs, Malpractice Costs, Med Tech Strike in New Zealand
BOSTON INVESTORS PURCHASE INTEREST IN DR LAL PATHLABS PATHOLOGY AND CLINICAL LABORATORY COMPANIES IN INDIA continue to attract investor interest. Last month, TA Associates, a private equity firm in Boston, Massachusetts, announced that it had purchased a minority interest in…
Epic Launches LIS Software To Fill Out Ancillary Offerings
MANY PATHOLOGISTS and laboratory administrators may be unaware that a company called Epic Systems Corporation is considered by some experts in healthcare informatics to be a disrupter of the status quo. Based in Verona, Wisconsin, Epic is best known for its acute an…
Payers Move to Pre-Authorize Expensive Genetic Tests
CEO Summary: Pre-authorization of expensive genetic and molecular tests is fast-becoming a priority for most of the nation’s health insurers. For clinical labs and pathology groups that don’t respond, this trend is a threat. On the other hand, because payers need all the skil…
California Pathologist Wins Medi-Cal Pay Case
CEO SUMMARY: It was a case that stretched back several years. Medi-Cal officials, wanting to pursue collection of what it deemed overpayments, claimed that the pathologist who was on the license of two defunct lab companies as medical director was personally liable for the $6.37 …
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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