The business case for mobile device compliance in healthcare and life sciences

Why does mobile device compliance matter in healthcare and life sciences?

Mobile devices are now a routine part of how healthcare and life sciences teams communicate with colleagues, customers, partners, patients, prescribers, and other external stakeholders. That creates a compliance challenge when business conversations move across text messaging, mobile applications, social media, collaboration tools, and other channels that may sit outside traditional corporate email.

For compliance teams, the objective is not simply to restrict mobile communications. It is to understand where business conversations are taking place and make sure relevant communications can be captured, preserved, monitored, and retrieved when required.

Learn what solutions Global Relay offers to help your organization achieve complete mobile device compliance.

What mobile communications risks should compliance teams consider?

Healthcare and life sciences organizations need to account for both corporate-issued devices and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments. Risks can arise where employees use unapproved or ephemeral messaging channels, move conversations from public social media into private messages, or conduct business on applications that are not connected to existing recordkeeping and monitoring controls.

Incomplete communications records can make it harder to investigate potential misconduct, respond to legal or regulatory requests, maintain audit trails, and demonstrate that communications policies are working in practice.

Which compliance requirements can affect mobile communications?

Depending on the organization, jurisdiction, and type of communications involved, mobile communications may intersect with requirements covering corporate compliance programs, electronic records, data protection, security, and audit readiness.

For healthcare and life sciences organizations, relevant frameworks may include the Department of Justice Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (DOJ ECCP), 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA and HITECH, and, where applicable, FedRAMP and FISMA requirements.

The practical question for compliance teams is whether required business communications remain complete, accessible, and governed when employees communicate from mobile devices.

How can you build the business case for mobile device compliance?

A successful business case should connect mobile communications compliance to the priorities of the teams involved rather than treating it as a compliance-only technology decision.

Compliance and legal teams

Focus on complete communications records, monitoring coverage, investigation readiness, retention, and the ability to respond to regulatory or legal requests.

Information security and IT teams

Consider how mobile communications data is captured, protected, separated from personal communications where required, and integrated with existing systems without creating unnecessary operational complexity.

Business leaders and end users

Consider whether employees can continue using the channels and devices they need for day-to-day work without creating gaps in the organization’s compliance controls. Policies are more likely to succeed when compliant workflows support how people actually communicate.

What should organizations look for in a mobile compliance solution?

When comparing approaches, healthcare and life sciences organizations should consider whether a solution can:

• Support both corporate-device and BYOD communications strategies
• Capture relevant business communications across the channels employees actually use
• Preserve required records in a compliant archive
• Keep business and personal communications appropriately separated
• Support monitoring and surveillance of higher-risk communications
• Make communications searchable and available for investigations and eDiscovery
• Adapt as new communications channels and regulatory expectations emerge

Moving from policy to practical control

Mobile device compliance is ultimately about aligning policy, technology, and employee behavior. Banning a communications channel does not necessarily prevent employees from using it, while allowing new channels without adequate capture and monitoring can create gaps in the compliance record.

Organizations therefore need a mobile communications strategy that supports business workflows while ensuring relevant communications remain captured, preserved, monitored, and available when needed.

Explore the full guide

Read the full guide to understand the mobile communications threat landscape for healthcare and life sciences organizations, how different stakeholders may assess the problem, and how to weigh the advantages and trade-offs of different mobile device compliance approaches.