By Erin Register
First Health Advisory began 16 years ago to serve the technology integration needs of health systems.
“As more and more data was being created out of electronic health records (EHRs) and specialized ancillary systems, the need to get accurate information to the right places at the right time became an essential requirement for new initiatives involving the exchange of information,” said First Health Advisory CEO Carter Groome. “This naturally led to understanding how medical devices were interacting with these systems as they became more and more digitized and connected to the network. As First Health Advisory became more aware of the security gaps and vulnerabilities in these devices, clinical asset risk and assisting our clients understand how best to reduce that risk emerged as a prominent service, leading us to where our focus is today.”
TechNation learned more about First Health Advisory in a recent interview with Groome.
Q: What is the main focus of First Health Advisory?
A: First Health Advisory specializes in clinical asset orchestration and risk management. We enable safe digital processes and secure practices in managing the life cycle of the devices that are critical to the continuum of care, promoting patient safety and operational uptime at the core of each engagement.
Q: What services does First Health Advisory offer?
A: As health care entities constantly increase their reliance on devices that are network connected computing devices, and those devices are operating in a borderless environment, understanding where your assets are, how they are behaving, if they are exposing your patients and organization to risk and how to address those challenges is an enterprise undertaking. The responsibility cannot be ignored, and accountability often falls upon the clinical engineering and HTM departments. Our mix of experience in the clinical engineering/HTM, IT, security, network and caregiving areas allows for a unique solution in tackling this ever-increasing challenge. First Health Advisory’s core capability is understanding how health care organizations can operate more securely and efficiently. We are different because we have combined the talent and experience from many disciplines in the health care setting to tackle a major challenge as one, innovating through the targeted managed solutions and collaboration options we provide.
Q: How does First Health Advisory stand out in the medical equipment field?
A: Our security and risk management solutions converge the processes, technology and data needed to gain visibility and ultimately trust in the devices used to deliver safe and secure care. In our approach, people still make the biggest difference in the success of a program. People are the foundation of our solutions, bringing clinical engineering and HTM know-how to reducing cyber risk while understanding how it fits into patient and enterprise risk. Making sure all the technical, operational and financial considerations in developing a security program can provide the best outcome and experience for the patient is what we think about every day at First Health Advisory.
Q: Do you have any specific goals that you want your company to achieve in the near future?
A: As digital assets in the health care setting proliferate, including wearable and in-home technologies, the interoperability of these devices and how security and privacy factor in this transformation will be a major focus for First Health Advisory. We aim to help health systems better manage all of these assets in a frictionless manner, where all of the controls and security you implement does not impede innovation, ease of use and the provision of the best care possible in any setting.
For more information, visit firsthealthadvisory.com.