Is this the right fit for your organization?
I work with behavioral health and healthcare organizations across Oregon that are large enough to have real systems and small enough that nobody owns them.
| Attribute | What that means |
|---|---|
| Type of organization | Community mental health programs, group behavioral health practices, substance use treatment providers, and small specialty clinics. Nonprofit, county-adjacent and for-profit. |
| Size | Twenty-five to two hundred fifty employees. |
| Where your technology stands | You have an electronic health record and a business email system, no one in a chief technology officer role, and at most two people handling IT in-house. |
| Geography | Oregon. I’m based in Lebanon and currently serve the whole state. |
| Who usually decides | An executive director, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, or chief clinical officer. If you have an IT manager, I’ll want them involved early, because what they know about your systems is a large part of what makes the assessment accurate. |
When an outside look makes sense
Organizations rarely go looking for this kind of help out of curiosity. There’s usually a date or an event behind it, like one of these.
- You’re migrating your electronic health record, or you just did and it didn’t go the way you were told it would.
- You ran an AI pilot and it quietly stopped being used.
- A risk assessment is due, and this is the first year it has to cover the AI tools in your building.
- The one person who understood your systems has left, or is leaving.
- You’re merging, being acquired, or watching peers get acquired, and you need a clear picture of what you own.
- New grant money arrived with a technology line item and a reporting deadline attached.
If nothing like this is driving it, an assessment is still useful, but it’s probably less urgent than whatever else is on your desk, and I’ll say so.
Work I do not do
So you know what to bring me, and what belongs with someone else.
Bespoke software development for hire
I do not build custom applications from scratch. Configuring, connecting and improving the systems you already run is in scope.
Hosting or managed IT services
I do not run servers or networks, or provide day-to-day IT support. If you need a managed service provider, I’ll tell you, and if you already have one, I’ll work alongside them.
Clinical, legal or accounting opinions
Those belong to the people licensed to give them.
Compliance determinations
I will not tell you whether you are compliant with HIPAA or any other rule. I map your systems, trace where patient data goes, review what your vendor contracts allow, and give you the specific questions to take to counsel.
Where I’m not the right fit
Five situations where I’d tell you so on the first call, and point you somewhere better.
- Fewer than twenty-five employees. At that size, a good local IT partner will usually get you further for the money, and I’ll tell you what to look for in one.
- No way to act on what an assessment finds, whether through your own staff, your current vendors, or me. An assessment only pays off when someone acts on it.
- You want ongoing staff capacity rather than a defined project. A hire will serve you better than a consultant, and I can help you shape the role.
- You need round-the-clock production support. That calls for a managed service provider, and I’ll help you choose one.
- You’re looking to compare hourly rates. I work on fixed fees for a defined scope, so an hourly comparison won’t tell you much, and someone who bills by the hour will likely suit you better.
A free forty-five-minute call. At the end, you’ll have either a proposal from me or a pointer to someone better suited.