Despite the rise of electronic health record (EHR) systems, cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, fax machines are still commonly used across the industry today. In fact, approximately 70% of healthcare providers continue to use fax machines to exchange medical information.

Let’s explore why faxing remains in healthcare, the impact of outdated workflows and how modern faxing solutions can help eliminate inefficiencies and improve document management.

Faxing misconceptions and realities

Healthcare is one of the last industries to continue relying on fax machines, partially due to compliance and security concerns. Regulations like HIPAA in the U.S. and other global data privacy laws require healthcare organizations to keep protected health information (PHI) secure. Because faxing happens over phone lines rather than the internet, many perceive it as a more secure option, but it is not as safe as people assume. If faxes are misdialed, confidential patient records may be sent to the wrong recipient, and printed faxes can be lost, exposing sensitive information to unauthorized personnel.

Interoperability challenges are another common reason healthcare professionals may resort to faxing. While EHR adoption is widespread in the U.S., data exchange remains difficult for many healthcare organizations; 30% are unable to engage in all four domains of interoperability (sending, receiving, finding and integrating data) as defined by ASTP/ONC. From provider practices to pharmacies, faxing may be seen as the best option when integration with a hospital’s EHR is laborious, if not impossible.

Further, many healthcare professionals still prefer faxing because it’s what they’ve always used. Some users find faxing to be easier, even if it takes longer than other methods of health information exchange. Because healthcare is a risk-averse industry, switching systems may be seen as a potential patient safety and/or compliance risk. Training staff members on new systems also takes time and money, which can make the status quo more appealing.

A source of risk and frustration

Organizations using fax machines may face problems both when sending and receiving information. On the inbound side, staff members must manually sort and forward faxes that aren’t automatically routed to the right recipient or workflow, which increases their workload and adds processing delays. Misfiled documents can also create patient safety risks if information is sent to the wrong department or provider—or if it doesn’t get sent to the right ones. On the outbound side, users must manually save files before faxing them, and manual handling can slow down workflows while increasing the risk of sending outdated or incorrect documents.

Every misrouted or delayed fax means wasted time that could be spent on patient care or other higher-value work. Every manual step increases the risk of errors, leading to rework, compliance violations and even potential patient harm. And every extra file-save, manual transfer and misplaced document is a hidden inefficiency—slowly bleeding resources from your organization.

Every misrouted or delayed fax means wasted time that could be spent on patient care or other higher-value work.

A better way forward

As long as faxing remains in healthcare, organizations should optimize it to uphold patient safety, support staff members’ user experiences and cut unnecessary waste. Leveraging a fully integrated, automated faxing solution can significantly improve accuracy and efficiency.

A modern faxing solution should include configurable inbound fax queues that show how faxes are automatically categorized and routed. Organizations can also benefit from updated fax-out capabilities, such as the ability for users to send multiple documents directly from their native EHR workflows to remove extra steps and the potential for misrouted documents on the receiving end.

Healthcare has moved forward. Your faxing system should too. Learn how your organization can streamline faxing and upgrade additional health information management processes with Sunrise® Health Record here.