MOSTLY EVIDENCE-BASED.
OCCASIONALLY PLANT-BASED.
Strong opinions may require prior authorization
I write about healthcare, insurance, leadership, ethics, broken systems, inconvenient evidence, and the houseplants I purchase after reading one too many payer manuals.
No referral required.
WELCOME TO THE NETWORK
The things we normalize are often the things most worth questioning.
Somewhere along the way, we collectively accepted that healthcare would be confusing, insurance would be infuriating, employees would be exhausted, and nobody would be able to explain who actually made the decision.
I have questions.
This is where I examine the policies, systems, incentives, and leadership decisions that shape healthcare—especially the parts organizations would prefer we stop asking about.
Sometimes the answer is complicated. Sometimes the data are incomplete. Sometimes the answer is simply that the system is poorly designed and everyone has learned to work around it.
And sometimes we are going to talk about houseplants because there are only so many claim denials one person can emotionally process in a day.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND HERE
some research. some sarcasm.
some questions.
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The gap between what healthcare organizations promise and what patients and employees actually experience. We will talk about client care, staffing, safety, outcomes, access, burnout, ethics, and whether the mission statement has any meaningful relationship with the operating model.
EXPLORE HEALTHCARE
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Networks, denials, deductibles, prior authorizations, credentialing, reimbursement, and the increasingly elaborate administrative obstacle course between a person and the care they need.
I will read the fine print. We can all be appropriately annoyed together.
READ THE FINE PRINT
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Leadership, compensation, organizational culture, difficult feedback, employee treatment, and what happens when “accountability” only seems to apply to the people without decision-making authority.
Fair warning: “That is how we have always done it” will not be accepted as supporting evidence.
QUESTION THE SYSTEM
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Some subjects are uncomfortable because they are complicated. Others are uncomfortable because the people benefiting from the current system would prefer nobody examine it too closely.
These essays may be direct, but they will not be careless. I believe strong opinions should be supported by research, context, and a willingness to admit when the evidence changes the conclusion.
VIEW THE EVIDENCE
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Monsteras, propagations, questionable repotting decisions, and the completely reasonable belief that one more plant will finally make the room—and possibly my life—feel complete.
This section contains significantly less peer-reviewed evidence and substantially more emotional attachment to leaves.
TOUCH GRASS—INDOORS
START HERE
Currently bothering me enough to write about it.
ABOUT TINA
Hi. I’m Christina. Tina if you know me— or apparently if you read my blog.
WHY “OUT OF NETWORK”?
And, occasionally, Tina Out of Office.
I'm not a therapist, and that was a choice. I just happen to love the business side of behavioral health, especially helping private practice therapists get off the ground without losing their minds to credentialing, insurance, and operations. Someone has to enjoy that stuff. Apparently, it's me.
I started Tina Out of Network to share free tools, practical resources, and what I've learned along the way. Because when therapists spend less time fighting complicated systems, they have more time to focus on their clients. I also have plenty of opinions about healthcare, leadership, and the things our industry desperately needs to rethink. Have you met me? I love a good controversial conversation.
And Tina Out of Office? That's where you'll find houseplants, questionable purchases, personal observations, and whatever else has taken up entirely too much space in my brain.
And occasionally talk about my houseplants, which, for the record, have still not completed credentialing.
A NECESSARY DISCLAIMER
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN.
Everything here reflects my own opinions, experiences, research, and occasional inability to leave a questionable system unquestioned. None of it represents any current or former employer, client, colleague, insurance company, or emotionally dependent houseplant.
I may combine or change details to protect privacy, and while I do my best to share accurate, useful information, rules change, research evolves, and individual circumstances matter. Nothing here should be mistaken for personalized medical, clinical, legal, financial, employment, or insurance advice.
I'm here to share what I've learned, ask uncomfortable questions, and occasionally stir the pot. For important decisions, please consult someone appropriately qualified.
My opinions are my own.