Last week, I found myself at the pediatrician’s office. My son needed a prescription cream, and the doctor had to fax the prescription to the pharmacy so I could pick it up. As a communications professional, every mention of “fax” catches my interest.
The role of fax in healthcare
In many practices today, fax is often considered “archaic” or “outdated.” Why fax when you can simply send an email or a message? In healthcare, however, fax remains the standard. It is secure, familiar, and remains the preferred means of communication for many practices, hospitals, and pharmacies.
That doesn’t mean the practice’s entire communications solution has to remain archaic. You can modernize the technology while keeping the fax features you want to retain.
Introducing FAXStation
Sangoma’s FAXStation lets medical practices reuse their existing fax machines with a device that plugs directly into the fax machine. The practice gets a cloud fax service delivered over the analog line already in place.
The days of asking “Where did the fax go?” or “Was the fax sent successfully?” are over. With FAXStation, you can configure fax-to-email notifications, view incoming and outgoing faxes, resend faxes, and download documents from your computer.
It is well known in the VoIP industry that faxing over SIP is not ideal because of the T.38 errors that occur. (It is like a persistent rash that requires powerful treatment.)
FAXStation is the exception, thanks to its proprietary FoIP (Fax Over IP) system, designed specifically to eliminate these T.38 errors and provide a reliable fax experience.
FAXStation is also a “plug-and-play” solution, ready to use straight out of the box. It’s as simple as:
- Choose your fax number
- Connect your fax machine to the FAXStation device
- Send your fax (carefully, under a doctor’s supervision)
How does it work?
Medical staff use the fax machine as usual, but the FAXStation device receives the fax over the analog line and transmits the encrypted message over the Internet to the Sangoma data center.
The fax then travels over certified PRI and SIP trunks, traverses the PSTN, and reaches its destination via the analog line at the other medical practice.
Many medical practices are digitizing today, but they must keep a fax machine to communicate with facilities that have not yet migrated.
Prescriptions, patient records, and billing information are shared between different clinics or hospitals, and must remain encrypted to protect patient confidentiality. Although fax is an old method of communication, it remains widely used in the healthcare sector for its privacy.
Sangoma meets these needs with FAXStation, the most reliable IP fax solution on the market.