- This is Laura Dedo with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Tahir Ali,
chief Technology Officer,
and Chief Information Security Officer at Montage Health.
Tahir. It's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.
- Same here. Thank you for having me.
- Well, I'm really looking forward
to our conversation in getting a sense of
what you're doing at Montage Health
and really on the technology side.
I know there's so many exciting things happening,
but also a lot of movement on the cybersecurity side
and a lot to keep on top of.
So I, I'm really excited to dive deeper into that with you.
But before we do that,
can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your background?
- Of course. Um, so, uh, my background
starting from college, I, I did my undergraduate in computer
and mathematical sciences, then took, um, uh,
computer science, uh, master's classes.
And then from there, i, I really, you know, started, um,
honing in, um, uh, more and more computer science.
So, um, started doing heavy Unix
and system, uh, programming and administration.
And then, um, from there became more of a storage person,
then virtualization, then network and so on and so forth.
Um, I was, um, at NYU Langone Medical Center, um,
where my kind of boss told me, Hey,
you know, so many different things.
We want you to become an architect.
And, um, a great, great person.
His name is, uh, um, Jim Song, uh, um, so he, he said, Hey,
see, what would it take for you to be an architect?
And I was like, all right. So I started looking.
A couple of months later, I go to him
and I was like, I have really no
idea what that really means.
You know, I'm a keyboard person. Give me a keyboard.
If you have a problem, I will try to, you know, fix
that issue for you.
So he goes, okay, take a look at things
and see if you can, you can go to classes
and become an architect.
So I became an enterprise architect.
I did this whole certification and,
and took me six months to become an architect.
That really changed how I looked at technology,
and that's where I realized how technology
should be set up to provide business solutions,
how we can expedite everything that a business does, how
we can provide more financial stability to the business and,
and how is technology really the,
the underpinning of everything that a business needs.
Now, as the time really passed, I became more
and more, um, healthcare technology
aware, and,
and as the time passed, I became more
and more aware that more technology,
better technology, simpler technology
can really change healthcare.
So I really fell in love with, with that idea of how
technology can provide better healthcare.
And I have done that for last maybe decade
and a half doing nothing
but trying to improve healthcare through technology.
- Well, that's an amazing journey, um, to really be
where you're at today
and truly to see it as you have done, um,
leverage technology to make healthcare better,
healthcare delivery, healthcare operations, just every part
of it, um, really seems like it can benefit from the
technology side of things.
So that's really cool to hear how you, uh,
came into your current role
and now, you know, what are some of the biggest issues
that you're following today?
What's top of mind for you?
- So, um, couple of things.
Number one, um, um, I'm both the chief technology officer
and, uh, chief Information Security officer.
Um, things are that, that,
that are really prevalent these days is
cybersecurity for healthcare.
Cybersecurity is paramount.
We are, we are under attack from different nations from
different organizations.
So that, that is something that, that we look forward
to defending.
Now, uh, on the other side, um,
being a chief technology officer, we are, we are looking at,
um, more of a machine learning, more of ai, um,
making sure that data is pristine so we can do a lot
of the machine learning and,
and AI individually for, for our healthcare,
and then also both of them bridging together.
How can we use newer technology to defend ourselves?
So we are looking at more AI driven, uh, security tools
that can automate the defense mechanism
as much as possible.
That said, there's always advancement on both sides, so
bad actors are always, you know, already using ai.
So we have to kind of catch up
and figure out what we can do to defend our, our, um,
uh, um, healthcare records for our patients.
So that is really something that we are really
concentrating on both sides.
One side is security,
the other side is more automation orchestration, um,
performance enhancement end of the day, we wanna make sure
that we can provide really superior, um,
healthcare to our patients.
So it all revolves around that, keeping it secure and fast
and the delivery of, of, um, EMR when,
whenever we need it, are the two things
that I am really balancing in 2024.
- That makes a lot of sense.
And certainly as you mentioned, you know, I think having
that artificial intelligence, machine learning strategy,
trying to, um, really keep data clean
and get it organized in a way that's going
to produce the best results,
I think is a huge, huge undertaking.
And then too, as you talked about cybersecurity
and the ever evolving, um, landscape and,
and threat actors that we're seeing out there, I can, um,
just imagine how big of a task that is to try
to stay ahead of it.
And so, you know, when you look at those dual role,
dual roles and, and really how much is changing
and how quickly, how do you stay on top
of all the different things happening in the space, what
are you really, um, doing, I guess, to make sure
that you know, your organization
and, um, your teams really, um, are secure as well
as leveraging technology in the best way possible?
- So, so there, there, there are a couple of things.
One, one of the biggest things is education.
I think providing enough education for people to understand
why we do what we do,
because what we do in, in IT is very different than
how it feels and looks like on, on the clinician side.
So, so we want to educate everyone who is part
of Montage Health so they can understand why certain things
work a certain way, why we block certain things, um, why we,
um, allow certain things.
So that, that, that is one of,
of the main things that we are working on.
Secondly, training our IT staff
to understand the bigger picture
and see what is coming, um, in, in,
in maybe next three months, six months
and 12 months, um, in the technology, uh, realm of things.
With those two, training our HIT, our IT staff
and making sure the education we provide
to the entire enterprise
so they understand why things work the way they work,
which is more streamlined, which we cannot change the things
that we block is why we block 'em.
I think that is a challenge that, that we are, we are kind
of looking forward to,
because at the end of the day, when you explain things right
to anyone and they understand it,
then it makes your life much easier
and your job much easier to do what is the right thing
to do for your enterprise.
So that's where we really stand today.
- Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
You know, it, it is such a valuable skill in order
to have translating and communicating effectively.
Um, and then thinking through, you know,
that big picture item to look down the line.
I, I know that's, um, such an important part of, of teams
that are forward looking and really operating at the best,
um, position they can be in.
It can be really easy
to get stuck into the day-to-day minutiae of tasks and,
and details, but then to have that ability to look forward
and understand the industry as a whole, um,
it just seems like that would be really valuable.
- Absolutely. - Now, you know, in looking ahead,
what are you most excited about
right now and what makes you nervous?
- So, so what I'm excited about really is, is figuring out
how we can deliver an palm of, you know,
somebody's hand, uh, um, healthcare.
Um, what I mean is everyone has a cell phone
or a smartphone the way a baby boomer uses, uh,
a smartphone versus Gen X uses a smartphone versus a
millennial uses a smartphone versus Gen Z
or even now generation alpha.
I think that is really challenging.
You know, they all use, um,
a technology on a very different, you know, sphere.
And I think, I think figuring out how we can satisfy
85 to 90% of everyone
who holds a smartphone is a challenge,
and I look forward to that every single day I wake up
and I, you know, I gotta figure out how I use it,
how my parents use it, how my nieces use it,
and then figure out what would be the best way to provide
sufficient technology or,
or application that can help them be well,
um, can help them be secure
and also help them, uh, uh,
help us provide them healthcare.
I think that is the most challenging
and it really excites me every single day.
I, I wake up, what scares me is,
is almost the same thing.
I think, um, um, the, the, the baby boomers
with, with how they,
they manage the technology is slightly different.
So, so having a phishing attack, having, having something
that is insecure, uh, bad actors, it, it's, it's different
with every single generation
because, you know, their mentality is different.
So managing that part on the security side is
what keeps me up every single night.
So I'm excited, and at the same time I worry about
how it's going to, to to turn out.
So it's kind of, you know, uh, like a bipolar kind of, uh,
personality where I have to kind of manage both sides of it,
the technology piece, and then
of course the security piece of it.
- Yeah, that's such an interesting point,
especially thinking about how, um, as you mentioned,
different employees, different, um, generations
and different mindsets when it comes to, um, the,
I I can imagine, um, technology hygiene and,
and how you manage and use those different devices.
Um, and you know, from your perspective, especially seeing
as how much the healthcare environment is changing,
what do you see as being essential
for the most effective healthcare leaders in order
to be successful in the next two to three years or so?
- I think, um, I think for, for, for a leader
to be a true leader, um, I think you have to, you have
to figure out
and then have some, some, uh, intelligent guesswork
in where the trends are going.
Of course, there's always, um, uh, uh, something
that comes in and there's a disruptor,
and then you have to reset yourself.
Um, if, if you take those out, you, you, you have
to manage how would it look like in the
next two to three years?
Because certain people in your group
are baby boomers.
There are certain group, uh, people in your group
that are Gen X and then so on and so forth,
and you have to manage them in a very different way
to be a successful leader.
Of course, there are, there's some core values of a,
of a leader who can be successful by listening,
by always being curious, by always, um, asking questions
and, and figuring out what is really required.
Now on the other side, understanding
more about the business of healthcare
would really help a lot of the leaders formulate their
roadmaps from security all the way to technology,
to having ML ai, having um, um, the data,
making sure the security is in place, making sure
that we can reach to your home to provide your
you health, healthcare.
Um, we also want
to make sure there's preventative healthcare
that is available to you in the palm of your hand, uh,
making sure that you, you look beyond
what is right in front of you
and kind of take, take the right steps and,
and, and better guess how it's going to look like,
and then formulate your, your, uh, roadmap.
I think that would be really a recipe for success.
Barring that, no, no other, um, um,
disruptors just like chat GPT or, or something kind of comes
and takes things, you know, to a, a different level.
I think that is what I personally think is
required on both sides.
Having a, a great IT team and managing that as a leader
and then also providing great value to the business
by formulating a great roadmap that, you know,
keeps the business intact
and your understanding of,
of healthcare business is extremely important.
- That's fantastic to hear,
and you know, really sums things up very well to hear.
Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
This has been such a fun conversation
and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.
- Absolutely, same here. Have a wonderful rest of your day.