As an aging disc jockey with no show, I often think of headlines as song titles. This post should actually be called Homebound. Perhaps Paul Simon will compose a new song for the COVID-19 era. (Have you heard Neil Diamond’s rework of Sweet Caroline? “Hands, washing hands, reaching out, don’t touch me. I won’t touch you.” Oh my.)
After 40 years of working on radio and TV, dressing casually, dressing up, commuting twice a day for split shifts and remote broadcasts, I semi-retired in 2001. (Few broadcasters actually retire. I was “retired.”)
For nearly 20 years now, my work has been home-based. I do “live” announcing and voice recording in a small audio booth, occasionally host an educational cable TV program, and volunteer for a community group in San Diego.
Being “of a certain age” and saddled with “underlying health issues,” I realize how important it is to avoid the coronavirus. But as a stay-at-home husband, I’ve enjoyed food shopping, errands, walking, photography, and the freedom to come and go as I please.
I miss that, even though my wife – now also working from home – has long teased me about never wanting to leave the house, perfectly content watching the grass grow and the clouds drift by. As long as there’s music.
We are indeed fortunate – healthy, employed, comfortable (yard, deck, BBQ), grown sons, grandkids all surviving unimaginable life adjustments.
March to April seemed like six years, not weeks. Things once so important, enjoyable, and taken for granted as the decade dawned are replaced by avoiding strangers and celebrating toilet paper.
We swim in the murky waters of pandemic news. It’s painful to open our eyes, but important to stay current. Information, misinformation, red states, blue states, forecasts, guesses – it blasts us like a firehose.
Personally, I trust experts who say, “we really don’t know.”
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition. But certainty is absurd,” as Voltaire once said.
TV’s nightly display of smartphone video from health workers reviewing their job and their day is uplifting, devastating, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.
Eventually, we turn it off and watch M*A*S*H reruns. Radar, Hawkeye, et al, dealt with everything we’re facing now, and still made us giggle.
Personally, I am thankful to live in a state that took decisive action to slow the killing. We are sacrificing. But if polling is accurate, people shouting “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” are a minority.
Our Governor holds fast to important aspects of social distancing, while gradually allowing things like surfing and jogging. So far, San Diegans are responding appropriately.
Again, I know our family is fortunate. Not for a moment do I discount the extreme financial and emotional hardships faced by owners of small businesses, renters who can’t pay, and workers whose jobs may never come back. It is a true disaster.
But the air is cleaner. And the waters. People are more neighborly, and neighbors more friendly. Past stresses seem petty now. We’re driving less (too damn fast, but less).
The pandemic is a giant slap in the face. Complacency is not a crime, but maybe it should be.
We believed the United States was the best, strongest, smartest nation in the world – a compassionate leader, champion of democracy.
Slowing down, being homebound tricks us into mirror-gazing far more than tie-straightening. Unmasked, we don’t see the person we used to be. But we might find the one we want to be.
In our lives, in our country, we have time to re-evaluate our priorities. I hope some changes are for good.
EDITOR’S NOTE Day 3 of the federal shutdown continues. This article by Mark Spivey is part of a special section today published by RACmonitor and
As expected, the federal shutdown began early Wednesday morning. What’s unknown is how long it will continue. Neither congressional Republicans nor Democrats appear to be
Please log in to your account to comment on this article.
Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.
Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.
Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.
Only ICD10monitor delivers what you need: updates on must-know changes associated with the FY26 IPPS, including new ICD-10-CM/PCS codes, CCs/MCCs, and MS-DRGs, plus insights, analysis and answers to your questions from two of the country’s most respected subject matter experts.
Get clear, practical answers to Medicare’s most confusing regulations. Join Dr. Ronald Hirsch as he breaks down real-world compliance challenges and shares guidance your team can apply right away.
Federal auditors are zeroing in on Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and hospital rehab unit services, with OIG and CERT audits leading to millions in penalties—often due to documentation and administrative errors, not quality of care. Join compliance expert Michael Calahan, PA, MBA, to learn the five clinical “pillars” of IRF-PPS admissions, key documentation requirements, and real-life case lessons to help protect your revenue.
During this essential RACmonitor webcast Michael Calahan, PA, MBA Certified Compliance Officer, will clarify the rules, dispel common misconceptions, and equip you with practical strategies to code, document, and bill high-risk split/shared, incident-to & critical care E/M services with confidence. Don’t let audit risks or revenue losses catch your organization off guard — learn exactly what federal auditors are looking for and how to ensure your documentation and reporting stand up to scrutiny.
Learn how to navigate the proposed elimination of the Inpatient-Only list. Gain strategies to assess admission status, avoid denials, protect compliance, and address impacts across Medicare and non-Medicare payors. Essential insights for hospitals.
Happy National Doctor’s Day! Learn how to get a complimentary webcast on ‘Decoding Social Admissions’ as a token of our heartfelt appreciation! Click here to learn more →
CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 2 with code CYBER24
