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Learn how to modernize faxing for your organization

Aug 12, 2020

Faxing is here to stay.  Ask most healthcare CIOs and you’re likely to hear a similar statement. Sure, traditional faxing is not without challenges, but it is often the only report delivery solution available to healthcare organizations and practices without resources for more sophisticated interoperability. I recently spoke with Jake Smith and Kevin Frazier, our CIO and Client Services Manager at Forward Advantage, to hear what they have to say about fax in the marketplace.

“Fax still serves a very real and important need in many markets and, specifically, fills a vital role in healthcare,” says Smith. “Organizations should seek ways they can modernize it as a delivery mechanism that supports their business.” Forward Advantage has recognized this need for a long time with Communication Director, our flagship product for automated and EHR-integrated report distribution.

“While the level of technology varies from facility to facility, nearly all members of the healthcare community rely on faxes for information exchange,” continues Frazier. “From clinical results to orders, billing, and materials management, we see our clients using fax as the path of least resistance due to its universal availability. For example, many customers use Communication Director’s SmartRoute feature to automate report distribution to providers using a combination of standard fax, cloud fax, email, and file transfer delivery based on recipients’ system capabilities.”

Read on to learn how Communication Director can modernize faxing for your organization. We continuously meet with customers to evaluate new ways to improve clinical workflows and the exchange of information. Recent developments with Communication Director – including the new CloudFax Connector for cloud-based fax transmissions – reflects our commitment to ensuring that fax continues to meet market demands..

Ask Yourself

  1. Are you looking to consolidate outreach communications to a single platform?

  2. Do you struggle to accommodate physicians with different information delivery preferences?

  3. Do you worry about physicians and staff texting unsecured PHI?

  4. Are you looking for ways to increase productivity and still maintain high levels of physician satisfaction?

Did you answer “yes” to any (or all) of the above questions? This is a common starting point when introducing Communication Director, because it can handle all these issues – and more. We offer Communication Director as an enterprise-wide solution because of its range of capabilities. In fact, it has such a broad range that we continue to support and work with existing customers to ensure they’re maximizing the solution to its fullest.

Faxing for Healthcare

Communication Director was built to accommodate HIPAA regulations and the unique information distribution needs of healthcare systems and professionals. With that said, we recognize that every organization is unique – so Communication Director is flexible and robust enough to do as little or as much as you need.

  • Desktop Faxing accommodates all end users by providing an electronic solution that eliminates manual printing and scanning.

  • SmartRoute technology provides intelligent routing by automatically determining if, how and when the report should be delivered based on the unique requirements of your recipients.

  • Flexible delivery options address the unique needs of each recipient. Options include email, traditional fax, printer, network file drop, secure texting and message connectors, smart phone/hands-free devices, and cloud fax transmissions.

  • Real-time alerts, role-based access, and accessible audit trails provide the security and assurance today’s health organizations require.

FoIP Complexity?

While most of our Communication Director customers are happy with their current configuration and traditional faxing, some shared the need for greater reliability and/or scalability for high fax volumes. Developed as an API integration between Communication Director and Concord Technologies, the CloudFax Connector provides this reliability and reduces frustration brought on by FoIP sensitivity. 

Greater reliability translates to improved workflow and increased productivity for some of our customers, while also improving relationships with referring providers. Plus, the CloudFax Connector scales limitlessly and does not have the same fax channel capacity limitations of traditional faxing. This allows for quick adaption to changing business needs – an important feature for healthcare organizations looking to stay relevant in a competitive marketplace.

It is also important to note that the CloudFax Connector is not an all-or-none solution. Communication Director customers can use the CloudFax Connector as their only fax delivery method or in combination with traditional fax. It makes for an easy transition, because you can keep your existing faxing/report solution while adding the flexibility and reliability of cloud fax transmissions – without changing existing end-user workflows.

As mentioned at the beginning of this post, we encourage our customers to come to us with any challenges or ideas that could improve our solutions and their workflow. Communication Director is no exception – it has evolved into the enterprise solution it is today from conversations with many of you. Faxing is here to stay in healthcare – and for good reason. Fax serves a unique purpose for a unique industry. We would love to collaborate with you on the options available to modernize faxing to meet the requirements of your environment and end users.

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