Notices by TayFoNay🍿 (tayfonay@beige.party)

Everyone say hi to Boomer!

#DogsOfMastodon

‘Tis the season for sitting on the porch watching Midwest storms

I keep getting emails from Omada health to enroll in their diabetes prevention program so I can improve my diet and exercise behaviors. My information was given to them by the pharmacy my health insurance uses, Express Scripts, as a benefit for "eligible members."

Why am I eligible for this? Because I take an expensive AF biologic medication for eosinophilic esophagitis? Does this somehow imply that I don't eat healthy nor exercise?

Interesting.

Hi stats/math people: I've been doing statistical analyses for a long time and have never seen anyone use a 95% CI for percentages until joining the group I work with now. Like, 78% of people reported a thing [95% CI: 73% - 81%]. I don't get it. What is the actual value of this? I understand and have reported CIs in other contexts, like with means or odds ratios. I've been asked to add these CIs to a report I wrote to align with another report where this is done.

Appreciate any insights.

I like to think I have credible evidence that, by working as a psychologist the last 15 years, I’ve seen and/or heard just about everything. Then something like this happens and I’m like oh you sweet summer child.

Attention! I submit for your consideration THE MOST USA TOOT EVER WRITTEN:

Shareholders for the health insurance company United Healthcare are suing them because the company didn’t tell the shareholders in advance that they modified their business model to not automatically deny medical claims after the CEO was shot, so they missed their earnings targets and the stock shit the bed last month.

‘Sup?

This kinda feels like a cry for help

Fun origin story for the phrase “that came out of left field”

Before relocating to Wrigley Field the Chicago Cubs played on the near west side of the city, on what is now part of the University of Illinois at Chicago campus. The field was adjacent to a psychiatric hospital. Specifically the left field side backed up to the place. On warm days, the patients would occasionally yell stuff out the opened windows during games so the sounds came from left field. And an idiom was born.

I decided to withdraw a “revise and resubmit” (in publication speak that typically means a scientific paper will be accepted after some edits) on a paper that is heavily laden with “DEI” terms per the regime. 1 author is a green card holder, but has lived in the U.S. for 30 years. And my ass has to pass through CBP in June with my kids. The editor granted a 3-6 month extension so we can see how shit plays out in scientific publications, so the fact the DOJ is sending letters to journals about bias isn’t a good omen.

It’s fine :coolstorybob:

Die Hard is an Easter movie. Fight me.

Hey lawyers / law people:

I've been asked to provide an expert witness statement for a person who, well, did some pretty heinous shit and has already pleaded guilty. I've been asked to provide said statement to the judge as part of the sentencing process, and to supplement a more comprehensive report that is lacking these details that I could provide. The case is in federal court and the records are sealed.

If I write this, which would be an entirely neutral opinion but just stating things as I know them from the scientific literature, would it ever be part of the public record?

Because we live in such a level-headed society, I'm concerned about being targeted for "helping" this person, which I'm neither trying to help nor trying to harm this person. Psychologists are asked to give opinions on all sorts of people and we're supposed to remain neutral despite what might be going on. Which is easier said than done.

Appreciate any insight!

Edited: Trial is in the US, Indiana specifically.

I also am 6’3, 220 lbs

Do I need this flag?

46 of my scientific publications have been indexed by Meta’s stupid AI.

Most of them are just conference abstracts. But apparently I’ve died and my obituary was published in The Lancet.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/search-libgen-data-set/682094/

Drove past a Tesla dealership and there were a bunch of cybertrucks sitting in the lot, lined up along a curb because there wasn't any space to put them. This may mean nothing or I will run with my interpretation that Tesla is struggling to sell all models of their swasticars.

[drags chair across the floor]

Hi, US friends. Have you heard of the “RVU system” in medicine? If not, stay a minute for story time. It’s a major reason US healthcare sucks so badly.

Once upon a time there were some “researchers” at Vanderbilt University who wanted to test a new model of paying physicians using performance metrics based on the RVU system in Medicare, which had been around for a while but never used in this way. The new scheme assigned units to the duties a physician does as part of their job, and gave more weight to a duty that collected more money for the hospital or clinic.

So, for example, a return visit for an established patient doesn’t generate much money so they gave it a lower number like 0.2. But a procedure, like a colonoscopy, is billed much higher so that might get a 2.0.

Each physician is assigned a quota of RVUs. If they don’t meet their quota, they get a warning first and then their pay will be docked. Yes, this is true. So low RVU tasks become psychologically negative. They get labeled as “low performers” even if they’re excellent doctors.

The researchers found using an RVU system motivated physicians to work harder. They published their study and then a few of them went out into the country and got jobs that allowed them to implement this system. One of them came to the academic hospital where I worked in the mid 00s. Over a decade or so, I watched the entire system transform into a corporate grind focused on metrics and electronic medical record documentation. Also with shorter visit times, long waits for follow up appointments, and increasing physician burnout. Then COVID hit.

Not all clinics use the RVU system but if you’re at a place affiliated with a university I can almost guarantee they do. I always ask when I see a new doctor and their reaction is usually telling.

RVUs + private equity led us here.

[drags chair back across the floor]

Study on RVUs: https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/abstract/2003/07000/effects_of_performance_based_compensation_and.8.aspx

So I have to buy something on Amazon, which I've boycotted and canceled PRime since the WaPo refusal to endorse Harris.

Make it make sense:

My kids had a Constitution test in school yesterday. For non-US folks, believe it or not, students here are required to pass at least 1 test on the constitution.

My daughter made a joke that she should write somewhere on the test “this is how it used to be” and I said I’d give her $50 if she did. My son heard this offer and well now I’m out $100.

Spent some time at the airport watching the ground crews getting a plane unloaded and loaded for its next flight. It’s really a masterpiece in human cooperation and engineering to operate an airport. This may be controversial, but hear me out: I’d like these folks to be happy and well paid with reasonable work hours and OSHA protections and not have to email 5 things they did today.