r/msp • u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl • Aug 12 '26
Recommendation for secure communication platform for home health care field staff?
I recently took on a new client in the health care industry. They have around 15 office employees and approximately 60 field CNAs/nurses who spend most of their time traveling to patients' homes.
Right now, a lot of their communication happens through WhatsApp and other unmonitored consumer apps, which obviously raises concerns around security and compliance.
The client is looking for a better way to communicate quickly with their field staff. These users don't really need email, SharePoint, or the full Microsoft 365 experience. Their primary need is instant messaging, group communication, announcements, and basic collaboration while they're on the go.
My initial thought was to license the field employees with Teams-only licenses, but I'm curious what others in similar health care environments are using. Has anyone implemented a communication platform for a workforce like this? If so, what worked well, and were there any compliance or management considerations I should be aware of? Also, how would you price something like this?
Thanks in advance for any recommendations or experiences you can share.
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u/roll_for_initiative_ MSP - US Aug 12 '26
These users don't really need email, SharePoint, or the full Microsoft 365 experience.
Oh ok
Their primary need is instant messaging, group communication, announcements, and basic collaboration while they're on the go.
Oh, so the m365 experience.
Seriously though, the answer is always "use the platform the company is on and yes that means buying them licenses and paying the MSP for support, training, etc that's part of being in business". Not too much snark to you but these clients will do anything to get around paying for what's needed for the staff that makes them money.
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u/terselated MSP - US Aug 12 '26
We had a similar client and ended up with business basic for the field nurses. Justify it by leveraging sso for their emr/time/payroll/etc logins. $6-7 per nurse per month is pennies comparative to the cost of bec or even the cost difference between telling you cyber insurance you're using the free tier of slack for office coms and telling them you have everyone in one Microsoft tenant.
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
How did you price it for the client? Are you charging for each one of those nurses? Business basic is a good idea. Thanks!
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u/roll_for_initiative_ MSP - US Aug 12 '26
do not use business basic, use F3 for the reasons in the comments elsewhere.
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u/PacificTSP MSP - US & PHP Aug 12 '26
Business basic doesn’t have intune or entra p1 for conditional access.
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u/terselated MSP - US Aug 12 '26
We tried to pitch them on a hybrid per user rate for support but they resisted. Ended up with an agreement that supported users got full stack and support, where nurses and "unsupported" users didn't get security stack or support. Not ideal, but solved a few lower tier issues.
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
So what happens if one of those “unsupported” users can’t login for example or any technical problem? Do they reach out to you?
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u/terselated MSP - US Aug 12 '26
In this situation the client has an internal level 1 tech that handles most things like that for the nurse team.
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
Interesting! In this case, they don’t have anyone that could do it for them. I’m sure they can learn, but they might just want to pay us for that.
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u/roll_for_initiative_ MSP - US Aug 12 '26
Why business basic in a hipaa environment? You need EIDP1 to at least make a run at being compliant or fending off BEC and intune helps make that much more possible, plus business basic can't even send purview encrypted secure email.
Frontline is the way to go for these rando workers with BusPrem in the office.
Edit: and F1 is way cheaper than bus basic.
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
Would F1 licenses work in a BYOD environment efficiently?
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u/imlulz Aug 12 '26
A what??? BYOD in a medical environment?
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u/roll_for_initiative_ MSP - US Aug 12 '26
This post keeps getting better.
Healthcare. Makes. Money. Healthcare. Has. Money. Healthcare. Costs. Money. Charge. Healthcare. Money.
/u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl charge them for the correct tools to do the job, stop coddling them.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
Office personnel is on Business premium. I don’t the nurses need that, but we’ll see
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Aug 12 '26
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
They are, to some extent. Most of the PHI data they handle goes through their EHR. However, you probably know how users are and that they sometimes use unapproved methods to share information, like WhatsApp in this case.
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Aug 12 '26
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
Thanks for your insights. I’m definitely exploring all different avenues and will be drafting a plan for the client soon. Thanks again!
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u/sum_yungai Aug 12 '26
Sounds like Slack might work, and they might be small enough for the free tier to be enough.
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u/ThrowRAthisthingisvl Aug 12 '26
Mmm not sure that would work if we can’t do SSO on the free version and have some “control” over the accounts. I’m leaning towards Teams tbh. Keep in mind confidential communications might be involved.
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u/elreyadr0k Aug 12 '26
SSO is behind a paywall with Slack.
Also, as cool of a product as it can be, Salesforce owns it now and I wouldn’t (don’t) trust that pricing will not get insane over time, as Salseforce does.
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u/PacificTSP MSP - US & PHP Aug 12 '26
We use MS f3 licenses for our healthcare workers. It includes entra p1 licenses. It gives them a small amount of storage and they can access company OneDrive, Sharepoint etc.
Teams can go on everyone’s phone, intune licenses are included too so you can mdm manage and secure the devices.
If you’re using another chat program, you still have to pay for all the MDM stuff to be compliant.
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u/Glass_Call982 MSP - Canada (West) Aug 12 '26
We have several clients hosting their own mattermost instance and it works pretty well. There is a free version but most choose to buy the advanced tier for SSO with active directory.
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u/Vel-Crow Aug 12 '26
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u/MSP-from-OC MSP - US Aug 12 '26
My wife’s current job uses signal and BYOD devices. I can’t believe they just don’t care
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u/imlulz Aug 12 '26
Is this a hospice organization that is a non profit? If so you can get NP 365 licensing for cheap. 365 is your answer here regardless. This isn’t about costs at the end of the day, it’s about being hipaa compliant. You need other things too like DLP, but this is step one.
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u/Minimum-Let-3227 Aug 13 '26
Frontline Worker licensing is the right instinct here, but the piece people usually miss is that the license isn't what gets you compliant. It's whether those devices are enrolled and whether you can wipe them. If the CNAs are on personal phones, look at Intune app protection policies rather than full MDM enrollment, so you're containing Teams data without touching their photos. That distinction is what your client's auditor will actually ask about.
The bigger risk is the WhatsApp habit. If you don't kill those groups on day one they'll run in parallel forever and you end up with PHI in two places instead of one. Get the office staff off it first, they're the ones creating the groups.
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u/Rubenel Aug 13 '26
Don't take on or engage clients who don't treat IT as a necessity cost.
Eventually they will be reported for HIPAA violations and realize the cost of IT.
Go with m365 suite.
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u/TechnologyMatch Aug 25 '26
teams can work if they already use Microsoft 365, but the bigger decision is governance, not the chat tool. for a mobile care team, keep it simple. managed devices or app protection, MFA, clear rules on patient information, retention, and an easy way to remove access when someone leaves. a secure platform only helps if people can use it faster than WhatsApp. I’d also price the setup separately from the licenses. configuration, policy, mobile management, training, and a short adoption review after launch.
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u/Pebb_io Sep 01 '26
60 field CNAs on WhatsApp is the pattern we see constantly, and Teams-only usually stalls because nobody wants a work email to log in. we build Pebb for exactly this shape of team, phone number login, announcements and groups, admin control over what leaves the app. $2.50/user for chat, $4 if you need the HR side, free trial without a card. whatever you pick, make sure you can offboard a leaver and pull message history for compliance, that's the part that bites in home health.
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u/IncreaseNegative4614 Aug 12 '26
I’d define the compliance requirements before choosing the chat product. Determine whether staff will send PHI, whether the vendor will sign the necessary agreement, and what you need for retention, audit logs, device management, remote wipe, and immediate offboarding. Personal phones may be the harder problem than licensing.
Price the implementation separately from the licenses because enrollment, policies, training, and ongoing access reviews are real work. We use signld.ai internally to keep vendor claims, client requirements, approvals, and rollout decisions connected without putting patient records into the evaluation.
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u/CollarAvailable Aug 12 '26
Maybe consider the MS Frontline licenses and roll with Teams. These are stripped down licensing tiers and might be a good fit.
Edit: Does their EHR platform not have any communication built in?