Fractional CTO counsel for healthcare technology
Technical due diligence, costed program plans, and standing engineering leadership — one practice, twenty years of the same problem: getting the technical read right before the money moves.
What this looks like
Three kinds of engagement
Technical due diligence
An independent, read-only review of the codebase and architecture — security and authorization, data model and migrations, infrastructure posture, tests and CI. Findings are prioritized by severity, with remediation options attached to each one, not just a list of problems.
Costed program plans
What it actually costs, in money and elapsed time, to reach production — priced against the build as it is, not as specified. Team shape and hiring sequence, the critical path including any external vendor or certification clocks, and what to cut to launch fastest, with the cost of each cut stated so the decision is yours.
Fractional CTO
Standing technical leadership sized to actual demand — hiring and vendor tracks, engineering process, security and certification work, and technical counsel on the build-versus-buy decisions that keep arriving. A retainer for committed capacity, not an open hourly meter.
How I work
A few things worth knowing before we talk
Fixed fee, phased, separately cancellable
You don't have to buy the whole engagement to find out whether you should. Each phase produces a deliverable that stands on its own, and nothing obligates you to the next one.
Live risk goes out immediately, unpaid
A genuine safety or security finding is never held for leverage. If something needs fixing before we've signed anything, you hear about it the day it's found.
No commitment that depends on someone else's calendar
A plan states what's within my control — what's built, tested, and ready — not a date that depends on a vendor, a partner, or an auditor acting on schedule.
Concurrent engagements, disclosed before signing
If I'm working with another company in your sector, you hear about it in writing before we paper anything — not as an apology, as a term.
Background
Twenty years in software
Engineering, product, and executive roles across that span, with recent work concentrated in healthcare revenue-cycle and clinical-record technology — reviewing platforms before a commercial decision gets made on them, and standing up the engineering discipline a small, fast-moving team needs once it has. Every engagement runs through Crighton Technology Group LLC, so it comes with its own paper, its own insurance, and no shared exposure to any other client's work.
Get in touch
Start with what you actually need answered
A rough scope, a rate range, and what you'd need to see before firming either — that's a normal first email, not a formal ask.