West River Mental Health For Amy

Mental Health Services: A 90-Day CTO Plan

Amy, here’s your new IT Director’s first 90 days. What to fix first, where AI pays off soonest, and what the hire should own.

If the IT Director seat can stay open another quarter, ignore this. If it can’t, the next two minutes are worth it.

What we noticed

Compassionate care across western South Dakota since 1948: five locations, a crisis center, psychiatric care, addiction services and telehealth, across a 20,000 square mile area.

Your IT Director posting went up on October 29, and it asks one person to own strategy, security, the EHR, HIPAA, disaster recovery and CCBHC work, across every one of those locations.

Your own work Counseling, psychiatric care, case management, addiction services and a crisis center, so the systems can’t go down on a busy day. History page
Your reach Five locations and a service area that spans many counties, which makes the network and telehealth the connective tissue. History page
Your team Psychiatrists, nurse practitioners and counselors who each need a working EHR and a reliable telehealth link. wrmentalhealth.org
Your tech Telehealth runs through Zoom and Microsoft Teams waiting rooms, and the site is WordPress with Google Tag Manager. Telehealth page

Seen in your stack: WordPress · Google Tag Manager · Zoom · Microsoft Teams · EHR

What your posting asks for

“Leading IT strategy, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and systems administration”
“Overseeing the agency’s Electronic Health Record (EHR) platform and technology upgrades”
“Ensuring HIPAA compliance and protecting confidential client and organizational data”
“Developing disaster recovery and business continuity plans”
“Representing WRMH in relevant Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) initiatives”

From your IT Director posting, posted October 29, 2026.

What changes for your new IT Director

Your new IT Director starts with a plan: the HIPAA and recovery gaps to close first, what the EHR upgrade path looks like, where AI can lighten clinicians’ paperwork inside a compliant setup, and a clear line between what they own and what a fractional lead can carry while they settle in.

Your new IT Director’s first 90 days

Three phases, each item with the reason it’s there and where that came from.

Days 1 to 30

Learn the sites, the EHR and the risks

1
Visit the five locations and the crisis center
The role covers infrastructure across all of them. Seeing each site’s network, devices and support tells the Director what is actually there.
Source: History page
2
Read the EHR setup: vendor, version, contract and upgrade calendar
The EHR and its upgrades are the second item in the posting, and every clinician touches it daily.
Source: IT Director posting
3
Run a HIPAA risk review of how client data moves
HIPAA compliance and protecting confidential data is a stated duty, and a written review gives the Director a baseline.
Source: IT Director posting
4
Find out who supports IT today and under what terms
The posting expects supervision of staff or contracted support. Knowing who does what comes before any change.
Source: IT Director posting

Days 31 to 60

Make it safe and recoverable

5
Write the disaster recovery and continuity plan
A crisis center and clinics can’t wait on a restore, and a plan is named in the posting.
Source: IT Director posting
6
Standardize the telehealth setup
Telehealth runs through separate Zoom and Teams meeting details. One setup removes the most common failure for clients and clinicians.
Source: Telehealth page
7
Write the IT policies and documentation standards
Policies, procedures and documentation standards are in the posting and are what an auditor asks for first.
Source: IT Director posting
8
Set the IT budget and vendor list
Budgets, vendors, equipment and software all sit with the Director.
Source: IT Director posting

Days 61 to 90

Plan the next two years

9
Write the technology plan with leadership
The posting wants technology that improves efficiency and service delivery, which starts as a short list agreed with your leaders.
Source: IT Director posting
10
Take the CCBHC data and reporting needs into the plan
The Director represents WRMH in CCBHC initiatives, which makes reporting from the EHR a planning item.
Source: IT Director posting

Where AI pays off soonest

Workflows from your own business, in the order they save your team time.

1 Clinical note drafting inside the EHR
Clinicians carry heavy documentation. Ambient drafting from within an EHR vendor that signs a business associate agreement lets them review instead of type, with the Director setting the privacy rules.
Source: IT Director posting
2 CCBHC reporting assembled from EHR data
Reporting is a recurring manual job. AI can pull and check the figures so staff review a draft.
Source: IT Director posting
3 Staff IT questions answered from your own policies
Once policies and documentation standards exist, an assistant limited to them answers routine staff questions before they reach IT.
Source: IT Director posting

What the hire owns, and what a fractional lead covers

Your IT Director owns

IT strategy, infrastructure and cybersecurity
The EHR platform and its upgrades
HIPAA compliance and data protection
Disaster recovery and continuity plans
IT staff, vendors and the budget

A fractional lead covers

Where AI pays off, and how to use it with client data under HIPAA
An outside review of the HIPAA risk assessment and recovery plan
EHR vendor and contract choices
This 90-day plan, run alongside the hire until it’s theirs

Your first 90 days of tech leadership, planned

The plan above is yours either way.

Email Kash

We build a handful of these a month, for founders hiring now.

90 days

from the first day to a written roadmap

What to fix first, with the reason
Where AI pays off soonest
What the hire owns and what a fractional lead covers
A roadmap your team can run

Who’s building it

Kash Badami was Chief Architect of a national health information network and closed the CMS deal behind Healthcare.gov’s data infrastructure. He runs his own company on AI today.

Chief Architectof a national health information network for HHS, aligning 23 federal agencies

$27MCMS deal that became core Healthcare.gov data infrastructure

“he was singularly responsible for the company’s single largest customer by revenue - the Center for Medicare & Medicaid within the US Department of Health and Human Services.”

RLRobert Liebowitz, worked with Kash on MarkLogic’s Public Sector team; now First Ascent VenturesLinkedIn recommendation, April 2026
“Kash and I built ERT Credit together in 2021. He took my MVP and turned it into a SaaS that hit $10M ARR in twelve months.”

Jordan Anderson, CEO, PayStreetgobridgehead.ai/about

West River Mental Health sales playbook, in brief

West River Mental Health has served western South Dakota since 1948 with five locations, psychiatric care, addiction services and a crisis center.History page, Pivot Point emergency services page

Its IT Director posting asks one leader to own strategy, security, the EHR, HIPAA, disaster recovery and CCBHC work.IT Director posting

The first 90 days: see every site, read the EHR setup, run a HIPAA review, then write the recovery plan, policies and a two-year technology plan.IT Director posting

AI pays off soonest in clinical note drafting inside the EHR, CCBHC reporting and staff IT questions answered from your policies.IT Director posting

Prepared by Kash Badami at Bridgehead · November 9, 2026 · Every source

Questions

Why a fractional lead instead of waiting for the full-time IT Director?

You don’t have to choose. The hire owns the product and the team; a fractional lead covers the AI and software side and runs this plan until it’s theirs, so nothing waits on the search.

What does it cost?

The first engagement is a fixed price, quoted on a call once we’ve seen what you need. After that there’s an optional monthly retainer, and you can stop at any point.

Will it get in the way of the IT Director we hire?

No. The line between what they own and what a fractional lead covers is on this page, and the plan is handed to them to run.

Where does our data live, and is it secure?

In your own accounts. Nothing runs on our side, and every tool or vendor we suggest is reviewed with you before anyone connects it.

Is this only about AI?

No. AI is one part. Most of the first 90 days is the work your posting describes, and the AI items are the ones that save your team time soonest.