About
About and method.
Who writes this, how a module gets made, what counts as a source, and how to tell me I got something wrong.
Who is writing this.
Hi! I am Jackson White. I used to build software, but then I moved into healthcare consulting, and I spent my first months there quietly lost. Everyone around me had absorbed the vocabulary years ago, so nobody had a reason to explain it again from the beginning.
So I started keeping notes. Every meeting and every confusing topic, I would make a note of it, then research it later, and compile more notes. Those notes have now turned into this, on the theory that the fastest way to find out whether you actually understand something is to try to teach it to someone else, and the fastest way to find out you were wrong is to publish it somewhere people can see.
I am based in Denver, Colorado and Tokyo, Japan. When I am not writing modules I am either helping out with some projects, sheltering from typhoons, or finding a nice history book to delve into.
What this is, and what it is not.
What it is
- A set of study notes on the business of American healthcare, organized into courses.
- Written from primary sources, such as statutes, regulations, agency manuals, public datasets.
- Free, with no advertising, and no email list you have to join to read it.
- Openly incomplete. Modules say when they were last checked and whether anyone has reviewed them.
What it is not
- A credential. Nothing here issues a certificate or continuing education credit.
- Legal, valuation, coding, or financial advice. Where a module and its source disagree, the source wins.
- Written by an expert. I am learning this material as I write it.
- Finished. Most Paths are still outlines waiting for me to get to them. I'm hoping to have a completed rough draft by December 31, 2026
Method
How a module gets made.
Pick something I do not understand
Read around it first
Go to the actual source
Write it up in my own words
Turn it into a module
Sourcing
What counts as a source.
Every module has to cite something, and that is enforced by the build and website deployment rules rather than by my good intentions. As such, a module with no references at all does not (and cannot) publish. Governing authorities are listed separately from everything else, so you can always see which claims rest on the law itself and which rest on someone's reading of it.
- Statutes and regulations
- Agency manuals and guidance
- Public datasets
- Secondary sources
Currency
Nothing here stays true forever.
Healthcare regulation changes constantly and varies by state, so every module carries the date I last checked it against its sources. If that date is old, treat the module as old. I try and keep things as current as I can, but alas, I am one person with limited time. If you spot an inconsistency, please flag it in the comments.
Modules also record whether someone who does this for a living has reviewed them. Since this is a brand new endeavor, most have not yet, and the page says so rather than hiding it.
- Modules published
- 1
- Expert reviewed
- 0
Corrections
Tell me I got it wrong.
If a module misreads a rule, cites something that does not support the claim, or has simply gone stale, the fastest route is a comment on that module. This informs me, and more importantly, it informs other readers.
Comments are held for approval before they appear. That is a spam measure, not an editorial one, so unless there is a fishy link somewhere, the comment should get approved. Corrections get published along with the fix, and the change is recorded in that module's revision history.
For anything that does not belong in public (or if you work in this field and would be willing to review a module properly) reach me at jackson[at]wtlgovernance.com. Or if you just want to say hi. That's cool too.