but she guess it's the one "who, like you, does not have the protection offered by child bearing", am I allowed to tell her to STFU?

Oy! I think you said the right thing to her.

Kitty is very cute.

Lee, I think you are allowed to tell your mom anything you want.

ita and other hospital-ly types, have you seen the state hospital chargemasters before? They detail in an excel spreadsheet all the billables for a given hospital. (For example, at Huntington a 4% Cocaine solution (!!!) is $149.... Grace's trache tubes are $330+ each, a day in the NICU is over $5000).

kat, I worked at Mass General, until Ben was born. I was a systems coordinator (sort of a liaison between Finance and Information Resources). One of my responsibilities was to maintain various tables, including the hospital charge master. Ours had a lot more fields, than the sample one I downloaded at that site -- same idea, though. Procedure/item/service name; price; revenue code. (Also HCPCS codes and a bunch of other stuff nobody will care about). I couldn't get over the prices, then (and that was 1996). If I recall, correctly, printed out, it was between 2 and 3 reams of paper, small font, double sided, landscape oriented. I had to get monthly dumps in various sorts, because although I maintained it, I couldn't then access it online, or on our hospital computer.

Working in the hospital made me convinced single payer gov't run insurance is the only way. Every insurer has its own rules about how to bill, so the money we spent just trying to figure out and obey those rules (which they don't really want you to figure out, because if you figure them out and bill properly, they have to pay) was ridiculous.

In my opinion, pricing is all a shell game. Healthcare providers will moan about Medicare reimbursement rates, but Medicare is the payer who butters most of their bread.

Zee

Zed

Zed!

Like it.

how so tired? and not real exhausted tired, just I could sleep and need blankets tired.

I like that I am starting to figure some stuff out at work. never underestimate the power of feeling competent. so much of my job is organizing travel information, not hard but always slightly different. a good fit for me right now.

hmm the Zee and Zed suggestions took my mind to...

[link]

so possibly his name should be Zehbra.

never underestimate the power of feeling competent.

Indeed!

I am working at home because I have upper respiratory bullshit that will not go away! Mucinex DM is doing fuck all for it and I can't sleep for the coughing. wah wah wah. I didn't get sick at all last year and I've had two bad colds already this year. What the heck, immune system?? Why so lame?

Possibly of interest [link]

greening Mardi Gras.

I'm full of gunk, too, lisah. And it will. not. go. away.

never underestimate the power of feeling competent

So true. I just made soft-boiled eggs more or less successfully, and I'm unreasonably proud of myself.

I just made soft-boiled eggs more or less successfully, and I'm unreasonably proud of myself.

Nice! They are hard to get exactly right.