Dr's office accepts fax, but not scan?

[Amethyst]

I had to send a bunch of signed forms to a clinic so they would schedule me for a procedure (I could've dropped them off, but we don't live nearby).

The office staff person said I could fax the signed forms, but when I offered to scan and email them instead (since we don't have a fax machine) she said they weren't allowed to accept that.

She was just repeating what she'd been told, so I didn't ask her to explain, but I will ask youse guys:

What is the difference between a faxed signed form, and a scanned/emailed one? They both use electrons.

Amethyst

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I don't remember the specifics, but unless it's a secure email system that your doctor's office uses, the can't accept 'general email' as it's not secure whereas a fax is (as the government why!) It's one of the HIPPA requirements.

Sent via mobile device. Please excuse any grammatical errors.

 

[pb4uski]

Yes, I suspect that is it. A couple years ago I had to send some forms to my U.S. Senator's office and they would not accept a scan via email due to security concerns. Fax or snail mail only as I recall.

 

[MRG]

I didn't know it was a legal thing, but it could be. Most DR'S offices don't allow communication via email. I always thought it was their security folks not wanting to open up to Internet traffic. It's a whole lot more challenging to secure networks exposed to the Internet.

 

[audreyh1]

I had to send a bunch of signed forms to a clinic so they would schedule me for a procedure (I could've dropped them off, but we don't live nearby).

The office staff person said I could fax the signed forms, but when I offered to scan and email them instead (since we don't have a fax machine) she said they weren't allowed to accept that.

She was just repeating what she'd been told, so I didn't ask her to explain, but I will ask youse guys:

What is the difference between a faxed signed form, and a scanned/emailed one? They both use electrons.

Amethyst

Faxes have legal precedent that emails don't. That's all there is to it. For decades Faxes have been accepted for sending legal documents. Emails never were. In addition, Faxes are still considered far more secure than emails.

Some companies work around this by having offering secure email, or providing a secure service for uploading documents.

But many do not.

 

[Amethyst]

The cheapskate in me gripes at having to put two whole stamps on the envelope

 

[easysurfer]

It is possible to fax with computer. Still tedious though ...

How to Send and Receive Faxes Online Without a Fax Machine or Phone Line

 

[Amethyst]

Thanks - to all - I learned something new today!

I've done real estate transactions(leases, sale) using just emailed scans of documents, and those fake signatures where you digitally confirm that it is actually "yours." At the time I did have a few qualms about using a broadcast system (email). Single circuit (fax) would definitely be less insecure.

Amethyst

 

[grasshopper]

I had some of the same problems, my solution a $15 USB modem.

 

[Midpack]

Looks like more trouble than it's worth, but I was thinking there are ways to send a fax from your PC, and evidently there still are. How to Send and Receive Faxes Online Without a Fax Machine or Phone Line

 

[Cat-tirement]

I don't remember the specifics, but unless it's a secure email system that your doctor's office uses, the can't accept 'general email' as it's not secure whereas a fax is (as the government why!) It's one of the HIPPA requirements.

I believe the (outdated) thought is that a fax is a point-to-point telephone connection which is less likely to be intercepted. However, there are incoming fax services available so that the subscriber doesn't have to have a physical fax machine, but they get the fax emailed to them as a PDF. This obviously defeats the "more secure" fax argument. Hopefully medical offices don't use these services.

In a similar vein, a couple of years back I made an online reservation at a B&B inn. As always, before entering my credit card info, I made sure I was on a secure web page. The next day I received a confirmation email from the inn containing all the card info I had previously submitted, including CVV code. It turned out the service they were using for secure checkout received the information via the encrypted page, but then just sent that to the inn as an open email, which I only discovered because the inn created their confirmation email by forwarding the one they received from the service. So my card info was exposed in open email twice! I complained strongly to the inn and recommended they find a new service provider.

Just goes to show you that what appears to be secure isn't necessarily so.

 

[easysurfer]

I had some of the same problems, my solution a $15 USB modem.

+1.

I got a USB modem sitting around too. I bought that when I had DSL and my connection would constantly drop out so I ending up relying on dial up as backup. Before I switched my internet provider .

 

[SteveNU]

But if your phone is VOIP as many people now have what is the difference between faxing and scan/email?

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[ERD50]

But if your phone is VOIP as many people now have what is the difference between faxing and scan/email? ..

Yep, I think the idea that a fax is more secure is very questionable.

It is almost child's play to find the telephone lines going into a doctor's office, stop by at night and attach an RF transmitter to their fax lines and place a receiver nearby (in a parked car?).

I think that is harder to do with an internet connection.

-ERD50

 

[Meadbh]

Physician regulating bodies are not known for their tendency to keep up to date with current technology. Their policies may be outdated. I suggest asking for the regulation or procedure manual where it states that a scan is not acceptable. That is, if you have the time to challenge it. Or, you could just mail it.

 

[MRG]

Physician regulating bodies are not known for their tendency to keep up to date with current technology. Their policies may be outdated. I suggest asking for the regulation or procedure manual where it states that a scan is not acceptable. That is, if you have the time to challenge it. Or, you could just mail it.

Its not just Physician bodies. In the US the SEC has regulations that no one can follow, technically impossible to be compliment. I'm of the opinion that these(sometimes valid) decisions are made at a point in time then never challenged.

 

[audreyh1]

I had some of the same problems, my solution a $15 USB modem.

That assumes you have a landline. Some of us don't have a landline.

 

[audreyh1]

Physician regulating bodies are not known for their tendency to keep up to date with current technology. Their policies may be outdated. I suggest asking for the regulation or procedure manual where it states that a scan is not acceptable. That is, if you have the time to challenge it. Or, you could just mail it.

Yes - but financial institutions like Fidelity Investments do the same thing. I can FAX in instructions, or mail them. But I can't email them.

At least I don't think they have a secure document upload system yet. You'd think Fidelity would have such a thing in place, but I don't think they do. This would be much more convenient for me, because I don't have a landline to send a FAX from my computer. And I don't like to take it to any office, because it's always a very sensitive document, and I don't like anyone else to see it let alone have an image saved in the local memory of a public FAX machine. So I pretty much have to mail it.

I've dealt with insurance companies who have document signing and upload capabilities that are secure.

A long legal history allows use of FAX for sending and receiving financial and legal documents.

 

[kcowan]

I use FaxZero for all such requirements. 5 pages is free. Anywhere Canada/US.

Being in Mexico, post is not a practical option. Even verifying holdings with auditors.

And I use the autosign feature of Adobe PDF to avoid ever printing. (Must print the signed document to a PDF Printer with the free version to save it.)

 

[Gone4Good]

I've done real estate transactions(leases, sale) using just emailed scans of documents, and those fake signatures where you digitally confirm that it is actually "yours." At the time I did have a few qualms about using a broadcast system (email). Single circuit (fax) would definitely be less insecure.

Amethyst

Yup. We completed the sale of our condo remotely. We did have to get the final documents notarized and mailed, but every other document we had to sign we e-signed and sent via e-mail.

Doctor's and hospitals have resisted most of the changes that have occurred throughout the rest of the economy. I think it's because they don't have to change. They face such little competition.

We just got a bill from a lab where the only way to pay was by mailing in a physical check. Forget about paying online. They wouldn't take credit cards at all, even over the phone. Ridiculous.

 

[urn2bfree]

Doctor's and hospitals have resisted most of the changes that have occurred throughout the rest of the economy. I think it's because they don't have to change. .

Or more likely the result of the burden of HIPAA, a ludicrously misunderstood, incomprehensible mess of regulations - nuclear weapon of rules used to kill a fly of a problem all because some stupid lawmaker's diagnosis of herpes was found out by his wife.


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[Gone4Good]

Or more likely the result of the burden of HIPAA, a ludicrously misunderstood, incomprehensible mess of regulations - nuclear weapon of rules used to kill a fly of a problem all because some stupid lawmaker's diagnosis of herpes was found out by his wife.

 

[W2R]

Like Amethyst, I was able to use PDF instead of FAX for my recent real estate transactions - - for everything having to do with buying my dream house and selling my old house. And my real estate man was able to sign for me digitally. We did close in person but up until closing, I only had to send PDFs or phone.

If I had to send a FAX, I'd just run over to the former Kinko's (which I think is a UPS or Fedex store now) and I'm sure they'd be glad to FAX something for me if I paid them a couple of bucks or so.

 

[jollystomper]

Speaking of fax security...

For several years my work number, which also has the ability to receive faxes (the system would capture the fax electronically and send it to me as an email attachment), had an exchange number that matched another area code in my state. If someone in my area code meant to dial a number in that other area code, but did not do it correctly, it would ring a number in my area code code. For some reason I started getting calls and faxes for the personnel department of a county school district in that other area code. You can image the type of personal information contained on some of those faxes.

I would try to contact the sender, if the fax contained an email address or return phone number, to warn them. Surprisingly more than half of them did not. I also contacted the school board, but the general response was "we'll we'll try to let people know, but we can't control their mistakes".

Eventually I stopped getting them, and my number was changed as well. So hopefully folks are now dialing the number correctly, or someone else is getting the misdirected faxes, or the personnel board decided to accept emails...

 

[Gone4Good]

Speaking of fax security...

You mean that big pile of papers sitting on the machine waiting for someone, anyone, to come by and help themselves. Yup, security.