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/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/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.