Remember that back in back in 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid called for ending healthcare’s reliance in faxing - and they set a goal of completely eliminating faxes by 2020. We’re far short of that ambitious goal in 2025. Consider these numbers:
· 9 BILLION Healthcare faxes were sent in 2024
· 30% of tests are re-ordered due to lost or missing faxes
· $2.5 million remains the largest HIPAA fine issued for faxing to the wrong number - and that continues to be a common mistake today.
· 25% of faxes do not make it before the patient arrives for their first visit
Still, faxing remains the most secure method of patient information transmission since the inception of HIPAA regulations. Since fax is likely to continue to serve as an important tool in healthcare for the foreseeable future, we need to find the most reliable and effective faxing strategy to mitigate the errors and inefficiencies of legacy fax solutions. The introduction of cloud faxing offers some crucial advantages to fax machines, MFCs, and on-premise fax servers.
Cloud Faxing is Fast and Dependable
Faxing from Cloud is fast and reliable compared to analog faxing. In the 1960s and 70s before the analog transition to digital technology, the failure rate for faxing was 20% (System Lifeline, Facts about Fax). Analog faxing noise reduction advances reduced failures from 20% all the way down to 5%, but even a 5% failure rate in the mission-critical medical environment is problematic. Cloud faxing largely eliminates the noise present in analog lines and thus has a much-improved throughput rate. Additionally, since many medical faxes are multiple pages, faxing from a machine makes it much more likely that pages will get jammed during transmission, or worse - pages will be stuck together and will appear to have all gone through. Cloud faxing eliminates jams and stuck pages, ensuring that the whole fax will make it through - the first time! However, not all Cloud Faxing providers transmit at the highest speed and enjoy the best success rate. The best faxing solutions use stringent T_42 standards, and enjoy the highest level of fax speed and delivery rate. If you are considering a move to cloud faxing, make sure and get input from multiple customers before switching to confirm that they can deliver excellent results. Cloud, or digital faxing, also has the advantage of encrypting faxes and conforming to the stringent HTTPS security protocols and compliance standards.
Cloud Faxing is Quicker and Easier
When organizations rely on a fax machine or a Multifunction device (MFD) for faxing, they consume a lot of paper and battle each other for access to the device, which increases frustration and decreases efficiency. Digital faxing does not require paper, can be sent to more recipients in less time, and reduces stress on our carbon footprint. Some Cloud Faxing providers allow users to fax out of their email inboxes, or out of a portal, which makes it much more convenient and efficient. In addition, cloud solutions use VoIP lines and advanced queuing options, so the lines do not get busy.
Cloud Faxing is HIPAA Compliant
When selecting a qualified cloud faxing provider, it is crucial to evaluate whether they follow HIPAA guidelines in the context of safeguarding personal health information (PHI). The HIPAA guidelines require cloud faxing users to implement Audit Trails and Access Controls. Audit Trails are systems that trace detailed transactions related to any item in an accounting record (Vicente, 2024). Contributors must have detailed records of patient data access and modifications according to HIPAA regulations. Access controls provide users with rights and/or privileges to access and perform functions using information systems, applications, programs, or files (HIPPA Security SERIES,3). Cloud, or digital faxing, also has the advantage of encrypting faxes and conforming to the stringent HTTPS security protocols and compliance standards. Another important factor is that faxing from the cloud is more secure because it requires two party verification, making it much more likely that healthcare personnel won’t be sending sensitive PHI to the wrong fax number.
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Conclusion
Cloud faxing holds great promise for healthcare: it is convenient and efficient; it has proven reliable and secure, and it saves money. If your site is still dependent on fax machines, MFDs or even on premise fax servers, consider moving to a cloud solution soon.
Steve Newell is Founder and CEO of CloudConsult, and serves as a technology scout for companies in all areas of telecommunications: Contact Center, UCaaS solutions, Cloud Faxing, Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence solutions of all kinds.
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