#but this actually solves a problem so maybe?

[serpentinegraphite]

While there are varying factors behind EFT in general and as a recent trend, i can at least highlight one factor in why it's so fucking prevalent in American healthcare (and presumably other industries): outsourcing.

A lot of healthcare facilities don't really do their own billing anymore? They go through a billing company. Sometimes multiple billing companies.

A small private practice has the staff to offer various health-related and perhaps even specialty services. But instead of keeping on regular staff for billing or whatever, they outsource to a company that specializes in medical billing, ostensibly to streamline the process (so that doctors aren't having to train billing staff; billing staff can confer with fellow billing specialists at the big Medical Billing Company and they can all be better at their jobs).

However, several things often happen with outsourcing:

• there's little to no direct communication between the providers and the billing staff. They're not in the same building. They're not at the same company. The billing staff probably don't ever talk to the doctors, possibly even the office manager directly. That's for the Medical Billing Company management to deal with.

• internal communication isn't much better. Billing companies don't like to escalate things to managers. And they don't like when someone doesn't know how to fix a problem. And it's not efficient to take the appropriate amount of time to solve every issue, especially when the employees aren't trained in medical billing or coding or perhaps even in the basics of American healthcare.

• underpaid employees are encouraged (okay, often required) to send the bill to the patient rather than solve the problem. Patients HATE bills. They'll call back and solve the problem.

• internal communication is REALLY bad actually. I was trying to soften the blow before. Sorry. Even when i worked at a comprehensive billing company, they had separate departments for patient calls and back office billing and front office minutiae. We weren't just discouraged from speaking with other departments about a particular issue, it was nigh impossible.

• many aspects of healthcare billing are actually outsourced to different companies! These days in the US, a practice will often outsource the labs to a lab company which may be or have an office in the healthcare facility. (The lab also, separately, outsources their billing.) Coding, billing, and patient calls are often outsourced to separate companies.

• that's already four different departments or even companies (plus the healthcare facility) for tasks that used to take place in the same building.

• those billing companies? Might also be subtly or overtly outsourcing some of their work too.

So, to recap: the front desk books your appointment. You get, let's say, uh some kind of blood test done (separate bill, separate company). The doctor checks you over. Then jots down some notes on your chart and maybe some basic deets for billing purposes.

Someone else, perhaps a doctor or nurse or certified coder (perhaps outsourced! though there is more liability in this step so that's less common) has to put in the billing information and the relevant medical codes.

That information goes to your insurance company (which definitely outsources everything they can't automate).

Then, it doesn't go back to your doctor. It goes to the billing department (outsourced), which isn't paid well enough to spend more than 5 minutes on your issue. They bill the patient because they're being timed down to the click on every claim.

You, the patient, now have to figure out a) which billing department you need (labs or surgery or just the doctor's visit), b) what the issue is (no one in the chain will give you more information than the automated denial), c) how to fix the issue (what's a prior authorization and since when is the patient responsible for it?), and d) who else to call because the first number you try is never right. Even if you do everything right, sometimes the phone tree will misdirect you. Sometimes you get a disgruntled employee on the first try.

This is both cheaper and more efficient. :) allegedly. :)

I think this is just a trend everywhere but I've been very frustrated this week by how much admin work is being outsourced to me as the patient/customer.

My orthodontist tells me I can make an appointment with the surgeon. I call the surgeon. They tell me I need a new referral. I call the orthodontist. They do a referral. I call the surgeon. Referral didn't come through. They tell me about their special unique system we have to use. I call the ortho again and walk them through the referral. I call the surgeon. They say the referral was missing some details so they have to do it again. I call the ortho.

The insurance company calls me about repair shops. I give them the name of the repair shop which I already gave them yesterday. They say they're not in their system but I can use them, but I have to call the repair shop to ask them to contact the insurance company. I call the repair shop and they say the insurance company is supposed to email them.

I feel like at a certain point these constant fetch quests become unreasonable?? Is it too much to expect these groups to communicate with each other instead of making me run back and forth between them???

[orikixx]

Blueprints & Heartbeats

Part: 1

Featuring: Nanami Kento

Warnings: slight angst, wc 1.5k

Summary: academic rivals to lovers! a mixup in the architecture group project forces you to team up with Nanami Kento, the serious and stoic student. But maybe, he isn’t as brooding as you thought?

Author's note: I feel like I’m trying a new style and this is kinda scary lol. I hope you guys like it!🫶

There he was.

As you walked into the classroom, you saw him. The man you’ve heard all too much about, yet never got the chance to talk to. Well, it’s not like you didn’t get the chance, Nanami Kento just flat out ignored you.

At first, you thought he hasn’t heard you. He couldn’t have been ignoring you on purpose, right? So you tried again, and again, until eventually giving up because clearly, he had no interest in talking to his classmate.

You two share the same major, but that doesn’t seem to matter to him. Despite being in the same classes and even the same study groups, Nanami always finds a way to avoid interacting with you. It’s frustrating, to say the least, especially when can’t understand why. Maybe it’s your personality?

It cannot be the fact that you’re an annoying person, because you aren’t. There’s no denying that people definitely find you loud and bubbly, but no one would actually describe you as an annoying person, since you almost manage to brighten everyone’s mood. Or almost everyone, in that case. The problem could be Nanami, perhaps he just hates everything that’s not beige, boring and brooding, just the way he is. Or maybe there was something else, something deeper, that made him keep his distance. He definitely strikes you as the antisocial, loner wolf type. Either way, it was clear that Nanami Kento wasn’t interested in getting to know you.

You sat down next to Satoru, a friend you’ve met through the architecture course, and immediately felt at ease, with the help of his non stop babbling about some movie he’s watched with his girlfriend over the weekend. Zoning out a little, the hum of conversations fills the room, Satoru’s voice drowning in the background as you observe the walls of your lecture hall. The walls are lined with endless sketches, and the faint scent of ink lingered in the air. The harsh fluorescent lights made you dizzy, which brought you back to the fact that your professor has just walked in.

You quickly hush Satoru, and look at your professor. She’s known for being very harsh on students, so you always try your best to leave a good impression on her. She starts talking, something about another group project. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence to have to work in groups, but it felt like such a hassle for you. Having a very different way of working than the other students, it sometimes caused clashes within the group. They were eventually solved by getting to a compromise, but it was noticeable that it happened every single time you were in the group.

While most students meticulously planned their designs with rulers and perfectly aligned sketches, your workspace always looked like controlled chaos. Bold, colorful markers and loose sheets of paper filled with quick sketches and half-formed ideas were scattered across your desk. You thrived on spontaneity, letting inspiration strike in bursts, while others preferred methodical precision.

Your designs were vibrant, full of life and energy, much like you. They weren't always perfect, but they stood out. Other students often seemed to be skeptical about your work, yet they agreed that your flashy ideas were always the cherry on top of their mundane, strictly planned designs.

The professor starts reading out the names for the group projects, which are in duos for the first time in the entire year and a half you’ve spent at the course already. She reads name after name, and when satoru is paired with some other student instead of you, the both of you silently groan. You wait as the list goes on, until eventually you’re paired with… Nanami.

Before you can even process what your professor said, someone’s coughing loudly, and you turn around to see that it’s no other than the man himself. You turn back bashfully, ears red with embarrassment. The fact he looks terrified out of his mind at the thought of working with you bothers you, but what can you really do at this point.

When class ends, you and satoru go your separate ways. He went to talk to his teammate, and you were intending to do the same, or at least try to, because when you search around the class for Nanami, he’s already standing by the professor, seemingly.. arguing with her? You get closer, trying to subtly eavesdrop on whatever they were not so calmly discussing.

“There must be something you can do to change the groups!”

Oh.

You stop in your tracks, feeling like a beat down puppy. You don’t even move away, inevitably listening to the rest of their conversation as the other students’ conversations buzz around you.

“I’m sorry Nanami, I’ve already submitted your names to the administration, there’s nothing I can do to change the situation.”

There’s a burn in your chest, slowly spreading until you feel your neck heating, until your face is red, and you’re suddenly filled with such utter despair, because how the hell are you supposed to work on a project with someone who hates you without even knowing you?

You weren’t intending to be dramatic, but you know you can’t handle him right now. Before either of them could turn around and notice you, you just left class. Not discussing even the simplest details with him felt wrong, but you can try doing that later, when you’re calmer, if he’ll deem you as worthy enough to talk to.

As you were walking through the campus, your mind clouded with anger, you tried deciding how to deal with the situation.

You could text him, though with the way he’s treated you so far, he might as well just block you. You don’t actually believe he’d to that, since he cares too much about his grades, yet he’s definitely going to be so unpleasant to you.

…………

Nanami might as well have buried himself 6 feet deep at this point. Not only he got paired with the one person in the entire class that could beat his grade on every single assignment, but she also had the audacity to be so effortlessly unbothered and vibrant about it. Her carefree attitude, her ability to come up with ideas on the spot, and the way she never seems to second guess herself, it irritates him in ways he can’t quite explain.

He knows he won’t be able to function.. normally, if he had to work with her alone. It’s not like he hates y/n, because no one could hate her. He just lets his ego get to him, and he doesn’t know what to say when she comes by, trying to talk to him. As he sees it, she might as well wave a huge flag that says “look at me! I’m better than you!”. He knows it’s stupid, but that’s just the way he is. So when the professor tells him she can’t change his teammate, he feels defeated.

He turns around, contemplating if he should search for y/n in the classroom.

He scans the room , yet he can’t spot her anywhere. She usually hangs out with gojo, but the white haired man is now talking to his own teammate, and y/n’s bubbly voice isn’t heard throughout the place.

Nanami’s phone buzzes in his pocket, and he swiftly takes it out, curious about who even has his number saved.

Unknown number: hi Nanami, it’s y/n from the architecture course. Would you like to meet up tomorrow and start working on our project?

Nanami stares at the screen, unexpectedly dumbfounded. How did she manage to beat him even at texting?

Nanami: meet me tomorrow at the café near the lecture hall at 11:00.

He knows he could’ve been nicer to her, but honestly it doesn’t bother him at the moment since all he can think about is how he’s gonna spend the rest of the semester with y/n as his teammate.

She doesn’t reply to him, just leaves the text on read. He shouldn’t be surprised, or feel anything considering the fact he’s been anything but nice to her, but he feels like it doesn’t fit her personality. Maybe he hadn’t talked to her even once, but he’s been watching her.

A lot.

He knows which students get on her nerves, and he can recognize the look on her face when she tries to hold her laugh in during a lecture. The fact he even knows anything about her irritates him, but if he doesn't observe her to learn and improve himself, what other option does he have?

Nanami sighs, shoving the phone back into his pocket before leaving the hall. As he walks across the campus, in the direction of his dorm, he notices y/n. She was sitting on the grass with her friends, the sun shining on her figure, and she looked so…. He doesn’t want to finish that thought.

Her hands move in an almost animated manner, one he often sees in class. He has to tear his eyes away from the sight, fastening his pace.

Still, even as he tried to stop it, the image of her lingered in his mind, unbidden and unwelcome.

divider credit: @soulari

taglist: @yourname-exee @realalpacorn @zayuriluvs @galactacium

[ffaelix]

the batkids are all arsonists. not, like, on purpose (well, mostly not on purpose), but something about fire and chaos seems to follow them wherever they go. bruce is exhausted, alfred’s threatening to retire, and no one will admit they’re the problem. but they all are.

dick is a human disaster when it comes to fire. he swears it’s never his fault, but somehow, flames just happen around him. one time, he was trying to impress a date with a candlelit dinner on a rooftop. super romantic, right? except gotham’s wind did what gotham’s wind does, and two minutes later, there were tiny fires everywhere. when bruce asked why he thought a rooftop candlelight dinner was a good idea, dick just shrugged and said, “it’s gotham, it’s already mostly on fire anyway.” bruce was not amused.

then there’s jason, who doesn’t even try to deny it. he’s the only one who uses fire on purpose, and he has zero shame about it. take the time he literally firebombed a warehouse full of black mask’s weapons. bruce was like, “you can’t just blow things up, jason!” and jason just looked at him and said, “sure i can. i did it, didn’t i?” another time, he got into an argument with bruce about restraint, and his actual response was, “fire solves everything. name one problem fire hasn’t solved for me. i’ll wait.” bruce did not have a rebuttal.

tim, though, is the sleeper agent of the arsonist squad. his fires are never intentional, which is maybe more concerning. like, he’ll be working on some dangerous experiment at 3 a.m., completely running on fumes, and then boom, something catches fire. “it’s fine,” he always says. “totally under control.” (it’s never fine. it’s never under control.) there was one time he set off a controlled explosion in the cave, and alfred just deadpanned, “master tim, the next time you feel the urge to ‘experiment,’ kindly do it somewhere that isn’t my kitchen or the batcave.” tim promised he’d try, but no one believed him.

and damian? damian is the wildcard. he doesn’t mean to start fires all the time, but he’s definitely more comfortable with flames than any kid should be. one time, alfred caught him with a blowtorch in the backyard, trying to “practice survival techniques.” when alfred asked where he even got a blowtorch, damian just said, “you don’t want to know.” another time, he tried to enhance the bat-signal with fireworks because “it needs to be more intimidating.” bruce nearly had a stroke.

and don’t even get alfred started. that man keeps at least five fire extinguishers within reach at all times. if he hears so much as a match strike, he’s already there, extinguisher in hand and murder in his eyes. he’s confiscated flamethrowers, lighter fluid, sparklers, and a bottle of whiskey jason once tried to turn into a molotov cocktail. (“it was for science,” jason argued. alfred was not buying it.)

bruce, meanwhile, has just accepted his fate. no matter how many “no fires in the house” rules he makes, someone is going to find a way to set something on fire. at this point, he’s pretty sure they do it on purpose just to mess with him. and honestly? they probably do.

[cafeleningrad]

Granted, Jayce character designed is supposed to be handsome, so is Viktor to a degree but when thinking about them falling in love, the physical attraction is different. Sure, they superficially recognize how the other is objective worth looking at although it doesn't really affect them.

What does affect them is how waking up in the morning comes with the excitement to spend time in the lab. How ideas get expended on, how the failure of the prototype can be soothed with a dry joke, or how their insecurity shrinks regarding that the other always has an idea how to solve a problem differently. They will stay up together with way too much coffein in their bloodstreams the other will lead the flow the other's stream of consciousness. Eventually one of them will be responsible in realizing that Viktor is overtaxing his body. Eventually Viktor will notice how scattered Jayce's thoughts can get if tries too many things at once. By time, Viktor taking on a calm, soft tone when telling Jayce to catch a breath, don't panic, they will figure it out but not at 4am is the sound which relaxes Jayce the most. By time, Jayce sometimes smells of carraway, herbs, and the salty-airy perfume only ingredients from the sea carry when comes from a visit at Ximena's. With him he carries the leftovers meals they cooked together, inviting Viktor for a shared meal that is fresh, spiced with a sense of home.

Sometimes they glance over the rim of yet another energy drink can or cup noodle, and see the face of the only other person who understands that actual work renders one disheveled, badly shaved, and with sunken eyes. At their physical worst, this is the person whom they can rely on the most. It's the same face in which will still carry a comforting smile for the other even if their sessions went worse than trying to make gold out of tin. Or a face who's smile will wash away all the frustration if something works out, no matter at what ungodly hour. That toothgap of Jayce's is one of the friendliest sights Viktor probably ever saw in his life. When smiles or winks, the skin around Viktor's eyes ruffles laughter lines. It's so so casually charming.

When Jayce catches Viktor when he gets drunk after celebrating, or pats him comradely on the back as he casually so often does, they are so warm. Jayce's hands on his body is perhaps the most reassuring feeling Viktor has felt. Never has Jayce ever heard Viktor being cruel, only precise. Yet the mole above Viktor's lip dips into a specific curve when Viktor's mouth forms for a deadpan comment. Jayce might be able to forge, and carry heavy materials, still Viktor's slim fingers are so adept in arranging small parts, he could build clocks with them. They're achieving such delicate work so effortlessly, Jayce could look at them for hours. Beneath Viktor's collar Jayce sometimes catches peaks of Viktor's plae skin, paler than his face. A reminder how he's loyaly sharing so much time for their shared vision, and maybe how they should spend a day just picknicking in the park. The amber colour of Viktor's eyes is sometimes the only thing shimmering in the reflection of Viktor's thoughts when the man has learnt to guard himself so well. It's also such a noble jeweltone to marvel at. When Jayce laughs it's hearty, the man is a terrible liar so Viktor knows he means it. Laughing with Jayce Talis feels like getting warmed by the sun.

The other is attractive but in ways they can't put into terms.

[maizeversal]

If it helps, here's my usual list of Council members:

Core

The Thought (Seraph!Sans + Souls)

Life (bc of course)

Underkeep!Undyne (purely because I like her design, but also they need somebody in charge of war since the others don't like fighting much). I call her Pearl :)

Each of them represent one of the basic types of AU, although the categorization system was still very basic at the time. The Thought represents Turning-Event AUs; Life represents Thematic and Setting AUs; Pearl represents Aesthetic AUs. Core, of course, represents Outcodes.

These would be the founding members, but there are definitely more that joined later on.

For instance, an Outertale!Alphys as a Councillor of Technology, since her verse is a lot more advanced tech-wise than others; probably joined very early, and might've been from THE Outertale that later became a hub verse and was featured in things like AskError and Underverse. Over time, she got more involved in exports and the economy than tech alone, especially the media! Anime is forever.

After "Composite AUs" became common enough for the Council to notice them, a SwapFell!Asgore was appointed to represent them. Before that, though, I'm not sure who the representative for basic role-shuffle AUs would've been... Underswap wouldn't work, because they also need to represent things like Altertale and Storyshift. So maybe an Altertale!Papyrus?

There could be a representative for Fellverses, but they'd be a very late addition, mainly because... Well, fantasy classism, y'know? I don't imagine the rest of the Multiverse was all that friendly to them right away. This is complicated by the fact that, yeah, Fellverses ARE usually dangerous, but that's no excuse to just leave them to fend for themselves against threats like Parasites and Errors... They may actually need two representatives. One for "cartoon" Fellverses - this would be a perfect spot for a UF!Papyrus! - and one for the genuinely fucked up ones. Maybe a Flowey, since they're in a unique position; they've seen every cruel thing their worlds have to offer, but they've still held onto what joy they can. It's not a perfect solution, but, with a SwapFell!Asgore also on the roster, it should be enough for them to have a real voice on the Council.

... That being said, I'm not sure that Horrorverses would get the same treatment. They may be seen more as a problem to be solved than a distinct culture of their own. Don't get me wrong, fixing the famine is definitely important, but after that point, they might just be considered "damaged" Classic verses. The fact that Nightmare usually has a Butcher on staff and makes a lot of alliances through them certainly doesn't help...

There aren't any Mettatons on the Council itself, but, as part of Underkeep tradition, the public speaker for the Council is always a Mettaton (or a Swapped Nappsta, or anyone shuffled into an MTT role). This is an elected position, where they have to win a Drag Race style game show to get the title, which also requires a Councillor's sponsorship to get into in the first place.

I'm sure there's a lot I'm forgetting, but that's about all I got for now. Hope some of this can be useful!

I can’t stop thinking about creating a council motivated to protect the multiverse from dangerous threats because I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

SEEING THE COUNCIL LITERALLY BE THE STAR SANSES AS LEADERS AND THE REST BE SANS OR JUST BE MENTIONED AS “UNDYNE FROM UNDERFELL”, “ASGORE FROM UNDERSWAP”, “PAPYRUS FROM OUTERTALE”, ENOUGH! ENOUGH OF THIS!

Honestly, I think few Sanses would choose to participate in something as grand and full of responsibilities as protecting the damn whole universe. I feel like characters like Undyne, Papyrus, and even Alphys would have more to contribute.

And the most we have in terms of “diversity” is Core!Frisk, and they usually just make a cameo here and there and then aren't mentioned again (and still, I think they shouldn’t carry so much responsibility, like making decisions that could affect thousands of universes).

Anyway, I’ll think more about it, and if anything comes up, I’ll share it with you guys.

[wearyweasel]

How the fuck is PHP a serious language? "Yeah I'm going to make a scripting language with no experience as a fun personal project. It's going to have zero consistency and half the features feel incomplete. It'll be used on 75% of websites in 2024."

I'm casting arrays as objects and then using variables to access the object properties. A serious language would never allow this to happen.

[iamfuckingsorry]

So I've recently realized that murderbot's been translated into my native language and it's apparently a he in the translation (which admittedly makes sense, because it's a heavily gendered language and 1. gender-neutral language doesn't really exist in general and 2. "bot" and all the related words - I believe they use "droid" for mb in the translation - are grammatically masculine).

It made me curious how it's been handled in other translations though!

*e.g. being referred to by multiple gendered nouns/pronouns depending on the context, like both "bot" (masculine) and "machine" (feminine).

[jewreallythinkthat]

The most moderate, nuanced and productive people I have discussed the Israel-Hamas war with have been Jews, Israelis, and people with Palestinian family. Everyone directly affected by this just wants it to stop and to have peace and safety in the region in a way that minimises the casualty count.

The most extreme and performative and vile things I've been told are by people who have no connection to this and like to think they are experts because they have covered adjacent topics during learning, or read stuff online.

If all the randos in the west would just shut up for ten minutes and let those of us actually affected, with an understanding of the history of the land and the culture and the generational trauma experienced by Jews and Palestinians alike talk, we might actually have a chance to salvage this and stop it spiraling

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

DPxDC Prompt

Thinking back on it, Danny probably should have been more wary of being given the title ‘Ender Of Timelines’.

[thewardenisonthecase]

honestly, maybe it's a hot take or whatever, but I think that tearing down the veil and *potentially* bringing back the immortality to the elves would not have helped them a lot

[igbylicious]

me: hm fandom is always so exhausting for me even tho it's fun :( i gotta figure out a way to be in this space so it costs less energy & it won't constantly exacerbate my chronic bullshit :(

me later: okay so reviving my old ateez blog @wooyoungslipmole to reblog gifsets, art, memes etc etc works really well! (/blatant plug-in) i can easily mute the blog's notifs to manage the overstim better and i'm not flooded w/ small, flashing images in my writing blog's activity anymore so it's less of a strain to look at! yay, progress!

me, who should have stopped there: huh, maybe then a separate blog for fic recs is also smart 🤔

me: and it's also a nice excuse to finally create an actual tagging system so ppl can search recs by members! and by genre! and whether it's reader insert or not! and oneshots or series! maybe i should tag different types of au's too? 🤔🤔

me: AND OH WHAT IF, WHAT IF, what if i go through all my old recs and queue them up for the new blog so they're neatly gathered in one place, AND i rotate them by member so there's a nice even spread in content!!! and i should also spread out the writers too so they don't get spammed too much. yes yes let's do this 👍 hmm wait i've got like 80 fics in my queue now and i'm not sure if i have any recs left for certain members... i knew i'd have more for some than for others but this... hm... maybe i should tally which members are in the remaining 90 fic so i know what the exact disparity is 🤔 oh dang i read a LOT more San fic than i realised lol oop okay so all i gotta do is dig through my tumblr tbr for the other members and read massive amounts of fic for them so i can keep my queue nice and balanced! yeah lately i've felt too blocked to read anything on tumblr, that's true, but having a deadline will make all the difference to kick my brain back into gear, i'm sure 👍 brute-forcing it will have no negative consequences 👍 let's start wi— wait what do you mean it's 2am already? why is my brain all frazzled and foggy???

me: ...okay maybe, just maybe, it's not fandom that's exhausting.........

[chiarrara]

who up happying they new year rn

[aflawedfashion]

Ghost Agatha, Death, and Billy getting pulled into some random witchy/halloween themed adventure has so much October potential, that if I was Marvel, I'd fast track another largely stand alone series (or even a Disney+ movie) featuring these three. Billy and Agatha can get temporarily sidetracked from finding Tommy to deal with some October threat. It would be a lot of fun.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[annalyticall]

I still can't forgive Horikoshi for setting up Hawks to be in the perfect position to change the system and then have him... not do that

[touteytout]

i know spite is not a. sustaining thing to be motivated by But anytime i see a ""real"" artist (someone who actually knows how to draw and knows what goes into making a drawing) use genAI for inspiration/reference/at any other point in their process, it motivates me like nothing else to just draw. not anything in particular, just drawing for the sake of it. like i dont understand how, as an artist, you dont enjoy the basic things about drawing. just do something else at that point