The great wall

If you follow me on twitter (@hmeliz), you know I gleefully announced yesterday that Associate Editor Tracy Orzel is back from her leave of absence, during which she walked the Camino de Santiago, a weeks-long walking pilgrimage across Spain.

Not only is Tracy back, she's clear headed, she's tan, she's fit. Not that she wasn't any of these things before—she knows what I mean.

During our 10:55 this morning (go here for more on that), she shared an interesting story from her trip.

One day, an older gentleman named Tim recounted the story of how, when he asked a woman for a second date, she told him he needed to answer a question first: You're walking along and you come across a wall; what do you do?

Each of the members of her Camino crew answered the question. Their answers varied from, I'd walk around the wall, to I'd climb over the wall, to I'd blow up the wall. One member, a Brit with military experience, said he'd crouch down, brace his back against the wall and create a foothold with his hands so his mates could climb over.

The point of the question is not only to determine a person's approach to problem solving, but also to get insight into how they view the world.

The woman who said she'd blow up the wall—Tracy characterizes her as a firecracker. The Brit with military experience—Tracy says he's used to doing everything as part of a team.

Me, I envisioned the wall as insurmountable and had a panic attack (this may or may not have something to do with the wear and tear of having an almost two-year-old).

I thought this was a good question for HME providers to ask themselves, with the wall, of course, representing competitive bidding.

In light of yesterday's news that the House of Representatives has passed a bill that would delay a second round of Medicare reimbursement cuts in non-bid areas, maybe you envision the wall having a hole big enough for you to walk through.

Or maybe, because there are still some devils in the details (like getting the House and Senate to agree on the length of the delay and the pay-for—all in two weeks), you envision the wall as crumbling and you're preparing to deliver the final blow that will open it right up.

Think about it (it's a good exercise in self exploration if anything), and while you're at it, join me in welcoming back Tracy, who I hope is not too upset that I stole a really good blog idea.