Hello World
System Online
Everyone remembers their first Hello World.
Two simple words printed on a screen. The smallest possible program. Proof that something you built actually works. For many engineers, it’s the first moment where an abstract idea becomes real.
My first version of Hello World didn’t come from a programming language at all. It came from html in a plain text editor — Notepad — when the internet still felt new and mysterious and everyone I knew was spending hours on Yahoo Messenger.
I had decided I was going to build a website. So I opened Notepad and started typing.
<html> <body> <h1>Hello World</h1> . . .
I saved the file, opened it in my browser, and waited to see my masterpiece. Instead, I saw raw text. Every tag. Every line. Exactly as I had typed it. No formatting. No headings. No website. Just markup. So I did what every new builder does when something doesn’t work: I assumed the mistake was somewhere in the code. I checked every tag. Opening tags. Closing tags. Indentation. Spelling.
<html> looked right. <body> looked right. <h1> looked right.
But every time I opened the file, the browser showed the same thing: the markup itself. For three (yes, three) weeks I tried to solve the problem. I reread tutorials. I rewrote the page. I checked every line again and again.
Eventually I discovered the issue. The HTML was perfectly fine. The problem was the file itself. Every time I saved the page, Notepad quietly added a file extension I didn’t notice: index.html.txt
To the computer, it wasn’t a web page at all. It was just a text file. One small change fixed everything: Save as type → All Files → index.html.
I refreshed the page. And suddenly the browser understood.
<html> <body> <h1><marquee>Hello World</marquee></h1>
It worked. I remember the exact feeling — that moment of pure excitement when something finally works after refusing to for weeks. I also remember thinking something else: That was such a simple problem.
Anyone who has built anything knows that moment. The missing screw in a piece of furniture. The unplugged cable on a device that “won’t turn on.” The one checkbox hidden in a settings page. Sometimes the hardest problems aren’t the most complicated ones. Sometimes the real challenge is simply understanding the system clearly enough to see what’s happening.
Starting at Prism felt like another version of that moment. A new system. A new set of problems. And a question that needed to be answered before anything else: How does this actually work?
Imagine an oncology clinic. A patient is sitting with their doctor discussing treatment options. The clinic wants to provide the best care possible — the right therapy, at the right time, without delay. But behind the scenes, something complicated is happening.
Before treatment can begin, the clinic often has to purchase the medication themselves. These therapies are expensive, and the financial mechanics behind them are far from simple. In many cases, the price paid today isn’t actually the final price.
Discounts frequently come later — sometimes months later — in the form of rebate checks issued after the fact. Prices change quarterly. Tracking them requires time and expertise that many practices simply don’t have. For independent oncology clinics, this creates real challenges:
- Cash flow uncertainty
- Difficult financial reconciliation
- Limited transparency into true pricing
The system works — but it isn’t always clear, predictable, or fair to the practices working hard to care for patients.
That’s where Prism comes in. Prism was created to bring transparency and simplicity to this process. Instead of relying on delayed, uncertain, back-end rebates, Prism helps independent practices access guaranteed, upfront discounts. That means lower upfront costs, improved day-to-day cash flow, and an independent layer of oversight to ensure practices receive what they were promised. In other words, Prism exists to make the system easier to understand — and easier to trust.
This blog is where we’ll share the stories behind that work. The systems we’re building. The problems we encounter. And occasionally, we might even hide a few small easter eggs along the way.
So for our first post, there’s only one thing left to say.
Hello World. We are Prism TPO.