Our Approach to Healthcare IT at Ferrous Equine Technologies
At Ferrous Equine Technologies, we’ve spent years in the trenches of healthcare IT—serving as advisors, engineers, virtual CIOs, and problem-solvers across rural hospitals, specialty clinics, and large health systems.
We’ve helped clients respond to ransomware attacks, plan multimillion-dollar digital transformations, and keep bedside monitors online when the network buckled.
We know that healthcare doesn’t wait—and neither can the systems behind it.
Here’s how we approach healthcare IT—with experience, empathy, and a focus on outcomes.
🩺 1. We Align Technology with Clinical Reality
We never push a solution just because it’s shiny or new. Our approach begins with understanding your workflows, pain points, and priorities.
Whether it’s speeding up workstation logins or improving uptime on imaging systems, our work is grounded in the daily realities of clinical care.
We speak clinician, not just tech. And we make sure that every technology choice supports the care being delivered.
🔐 2. We Balance Security with Usability
Security is essential—but it can’t get in the way of care. That’s why our security programs are designed to be both robustand usable.
We’ve implemented:
Multifactor authentication that fits emergency room workflows
Network segmentation that secures patient data without slowing access
Phishing simulations that educate without alienating
We believe the most secure systems are the ones people actually use.
🎯 3. We Serve as Strategic Partners
Many of our healthcare clients don’t have in-house CIOs or CISOs. That’s where we come in.
We provide vCIO and vCISO services that help clients:
Plan long-term technology strategies
Navigate complex vendor relationships
Evaluate and prioritize projects
Prepare for audits and compliance reviews
Report effectively to hospital boards and executive teams
🧠 What Does a vCIO or vCISO Actually Do?
Our virtual CIO (vCIO) services provide executive-level IT leadership without requiring a full-time executive salary.
We help hospitals:
Define and communicate technology vision and priorities
Align IT investments with clinical, operational, and financial goals
Review contracts and budget allocations
Build phased roadmaps for modernization
Serve as a liaison between vendors, clinicians, and executives
Our virtual CISO (vCISO) services provide ongoing cybersecurity leadership and guidance, including:
Conducting and maintaining security risk assessments
Building practical, compliance-aligned security programs (HIPAA, NIST, OCR readiness)
Leading incident response planning and tabletop exercises
Managing security training and policy adoption
Advising on threat landscape shifts and new technologies
We don’t just show up for meetings—we embed in your operations, becoming a consistent and trusted voice in your leadership conversations.
Whether you need a strategic IT leader, a compliance advocate, or someone to explain risk to your board, we’re here for it.
⚙️ 4. We Design for Resilience, Not Just Performance
IT has to work on the best day—and the worst. We help clients plan for:
Power and internet outages
Hardware failures and ransomware events
Disaster recovery and business continuity
We’ve helped hospitals maintain clinical uptime through power failures, ISP cutovers, and firewall transitions.
That’s the difference between “it works” and “it works no matter what.”
🧬 5. We Know Healthcare Inside and Out
Our team includes professionals who have worked in and with healthcare organizations for decades.
Rick Ray, our co-founder, has served as vCIO and vCISO for hospitals and health systems across the country. He’s sat on healthcare boards, advised executives, and rolled up his sleeves in server rooms.
This depth of knowledge allows us to bridge the gap between the boardroom and the bedside—making sure strategy aligns with real-world needs.
🤝 6. We Build Relationships, Not Just Systems
We aren’t just project-based consultants. We become part of your team—long-term partners who know your environment, anticipate your needs, and help you grow in the right direction.
Whether we’re:
Recommending tools
Responding to incidents
Defending your IT roadmap in front of stakeholders
—we’re in it with you.
📞 Let’s Talk
If your healthcare organization is looking for a partner who understands the full scope of your challenges—from technology to people to compliance—we’d love to help.
Let’s build systems that support care, protect data, and give your teams the tools they need to thrive.