Did you know that traditional faxing solutions can be problematic and are not HIPAA compliant? Today, fax machines have disappeared from offices. You can now find a functioning fax machine for $25 on eBay, a far cry from what we paid when the technology was new. Why has the fax machine gone the way of the cassette tape and the typewriter? In addition to newer digital technologies that work better, the fax machine can create more problems than it solves.
Your office may still use a fax machine regularly, and in some cases it seems like the quickest and easiest solution to send or receive medical information. However, we’re guessing there are a few things that bother you about it, like these issues…
- Using a combination of paper and electronic faxes spawns an organizational nightmare. Finding a specific page of records means you have to know how it came into the office. Is it on the communication portal online or in a file folder somewhere?
- Faxes can get lost. Looking for a fax by date, name or topic means sorting through paper files and possibly discovering that you never received it.
- The equipment needs upkeep and thrives on a steady diet of ink or toner and paper.
- Dedicated phone lines for the fax machine are not getting cheaper. Some providers don’t even offer them any more. And if for some reason the phone line is down, so is your communication ability.
- Need to find something quickly on a multi-page fax? It sure would be nice to enter a keyword and have your computer find it in a split second rather than reading through 4 pages of text.
- Medical records are transitioning to electronic formats. Electronic or digitally stored, retrieved and communicated is the future, with its countless advantages and the paper fax is a bottleneck. Imagine skipping a few steps and have records find their way exactly where they need to go without the hassle of keeping paper faxes.
- Not in the office and need information that’s on a fax? If you’re depending on your paper files, you’re out of luck. The alternative is continual access through a web-based portal, so as long as you have a computer or a phone, you can see and respond to patient data.
Security Concerns
Then there’s security. HIPAA regulations require strict boundaries around who sees information regarding medical issues for all patients. When you send that fax off to another medical office, you really have no idea who will actually read it, where it will be stored or if it will be thrown into accessible trash after it’s not needed. A determined agency or person can also intercept unencrypted fax signals from a phone line.
Medical facilities need a better communications solution. Our HIPAA compliant faxing solution, hFax may be just the thing to get your office to the next level. Replace your old fax hardware and drop the dedicated fax line. Integrate your document transfers with your electronic record keeping and other computing platforms you have. Secure, encrypted communication with an auditable trail of who sees what, and full access to all documents through a web portal can revolutionize your practice. Pricing is simple, and everything is scalable- start with our hFax solution, then see what else we can do for you.
Centralis Health has the solution to all of these problems. We provide a HIPAA compliant faxing solution that allows you secure Internet faxing that is available anywhere. Contact us today to see how we can help you!