Twisting on ICD10? The universe works in mysterious ways

I can still remember the glazed looks of my parents when I brought my first issue of HME News to Thanksgiving so they could see what, exactly, I was writing about. Now they only read my blogs.

I mean, HME News readers might find the latest coding issues or marketing trends fascinating, but the rest of America? Not. So. Much.

And, although I am often (slightly) in the know about what's happening in the greater scheme of things (reporters of any stripe tend to pay attention), it's not often that what I write about daily directly applies to my life when I leave the office.

Until this week's rather mobile editorial meeting, during which we discussed fodder for our January NewsPoll and cartoon.

First, the cartoon. I won't reveal the substance of it here, but it's a play on the old game Twister. After work last night, I caught a very old episode of Friends on cable. They were playing Twister. I am confident when I say that in 10 years of Friends, that's the only episode they ever play Twister. Or any other Milton Bradley game.

Coincidences like this make me think the universe is a wonderfully cosmic place.

Second, the newspoll. We asked how providers are finding the transition to ICD-10, Hint: So far, better than expected. A few months ago, we asked whether they expected the transition to disrupt cash flow. They did.

Fast forward to last night. After Friends ended, I headed to my friend Sallie's house to hang out. She's a self-employed massage therapist who doesn't love billing. She's experiencing disrupted cash flow because at least one giant insurer has some sort of weird transition issue and she hasn't been paid for six weeks, when turnaround time is supposed to be three.

To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, sometimes life imitates work.