10 Ways to Improve Expense Management in Healthcare

Misconduct can greatly affect public trust and safety. Because of this, healthcare and life sciences organizations, especially those working internationally, face stricter compliance rules.

Today, global HCP (Healthcare Professional) transparency regulations, including Sunshine Laws and equivalents, are evolving rapidly, placing greater pressure on companies to disclose financial interactions with HCPs and healthcare organisations (HCOs). Compliance is no longer just a legal requirement, it’s an ethical imperative.

Yet, tracking expenses manually in this complex landscape isn't that easy. Regulatory reporting, attendee tracking, and data reconciliation across borders can quickly become a logistical nightmare.

Here are 10 best practices healthcare and life sciences organisations can implement to ensure compliance and streamline their expense operations in 2025.

1. Adopt a cloud-based expense management platform

Cloud-based solutions have become the gold standard for managing business operations, and expense tracking is no exception. In 2025, secure, cloud-enabled platforms enable real-time collaboration, remote accessibility, and seamless integrations with other healthcare systems.

Mobilexpense also support integrations with HCP directories such as MediSpend, MedPro, Tucania, and IQVIA, ensuring faster, more accurate data entry and reduced manual errors. Crucially, these platforms are built to comply with data protection laws (e.g. GDPR), offering secure storage and auditable trails.

2. Establish clear, up-to-date expense policies

Expense policies should be tailored to reflect the latest national and international compliance frameworks, including Sunshine Laws, the EFPIA Disclosure Code, and the Loi Bertrand in France.

For example, the US Sunshine Act still exempts individual expenses under $10 until a $100 annual threshold is reached per HCP. But staying on top of such nuanced rules across multiple jurisdictions requires automation. With expense tools like Mobilexpense, companies can set automated limits, alerts, and policy flags to manage exceptions and maintain control.

3. Implement pre-approval workflows

Modern compliance starts before an expense is incurred. Pre-approval workflows ensure that costs are budgeted, necessary, and policy-compliant in advance.

Real-time updates on budget status, combined with automated notifications, help prevent conflicts of interest and reduce the administrative burden. These workflows are especially effective for tracking spend linked to HCP interactions, ensuring each touchpoint is documented and authorised from the outset.

4. Leverage data analytics for insight and control

Advanced data analytics enables healthcare organisations to make smarter, faster decisions while maintaining transparency.

Tools like Mobilexpense Insights help identify trends in spending behaviour, flag anomalies, and assess compliance risks. In line with Sunshine Laws, analytics dashboards can help organisations track spend by HCP, region, project, or category, making regulatory reporting both easier and more accurate.

5. Transition to digital receipts and centralised documentation

Paper-based receipts are unreliable and increasingly non-compliant. In 2025, organisations are expected to use digital documentation for every step of the expense cycle. Read more about how to go paperless here.

Mobilexpense allows users to upload receipt images on the go, link them to specific attendees, and store everything in a centralised, searchable database. This makes audits faster and ensures a complete, compliant record of every financial interaction.

6. Automate expense reconciliation

Manual reconciliation is prone to errors and creates unnecessary delays. Automated systems now handle this process more efficiently: cross-checking claims, receipts, policies, and thresholds without human intervention.

In industries with complex financial regulations like life sciences, this level of automation supports both regulatory compliance and internal accountability.

7. Regularly review and negotiate vendor agreements

Vendor relationships must align with transparency regulations. In 2025, many countries now require that contracts with vendors be disclosed, especially if those vendors are involved in HCP-facing activities.

Periodic reviews of vendor agreements ensure alignment with current legal obligations and allow for cost control and improved oversight.

8. Invest in ongoing employee training

Compliance starts with people. Companies must ensure that employees are trained in the latest policies, data entry practices, and reporting standards.

Training should be global in scope but locally relevant, reflecting regulatory nuances across different jurisdictions. Embedding compliance awareness into company culture reduces risk and promotes responsible spending.

9. Monitor, audit, and adjust continuously

Real-time monitoring and regular audits are essential for keeping expense management in check. Mobilexpense generates audit trails automatically, allowing finance teams to trace issues back to their source and resolve discrepancies quickly.

This continuous improvement approach ensures that policies remain effective and aligned with evolving regulatory demands.

10. Embrace continuous process improvement

The healthcare compliance landscape is in constant flux. New frameworks, like Global HCP Transparency and updates to existing ones (e.g. the expanded Open Payments Program in the US), mean that organisations must remain agile.

Automated expense systems provide the scalability and flexibility needed to adapt without overhauling processes every time a new rule is introduced.

The global compliance landscape in 2025

As outlined in our recent blog on Financial Transparency in Healthcare (Add link), regulatory complexity is rising. From EFPIA’s Disclosure Code to JPMA in Japan, each region has its own expectations around transparency.

The US Sunshine Act remains a global reference point, with its structured reporting system and centralised public data access through the Open Payments Program. However, the regulatory picture differs across countries:

• France’s Loi Bertrand mandates disclosures of all transfers of value above €10, including detailed contracts.
• UK’s ABPI Code encourages voluntary transparency with self-publication formats.
• Some regions follow mandatory legal frameworks, while others rely on industry self-regulation.

This fragmented environment makes manual compliance unsustainable, especially for multinational organisations.

Conclusion

Expense management in healthcare and life sciences is no longer a simple administrative function. It’s a strategic pillar of compliance, ethics, and operational excellence.

Whether you’re managing spend in Europe, the US, Asia, or across all three, these best practices ensure that every financial interaction is recorded, traceable, and defensible.

Download our eBook on Sunshine Law compliance in life sciences and discover how to build a future-proof, transparent expense management process.