Faxing under HIPAA
Description
Collection
Title:
Faxing under HIPAA
Date:
3/20/2003
Text:
One of the questions that I have been seeking to resolve is whether or not faxes can be sent back and forth between our office and a physician's office after the formal implementation of HIPAA.
Today, I spoke with a proper government official about this matter. The answer can be found in various documents starting with the CFRs, Federal Register, Final Security Rule, etc. The short answer was this: Paper faxes are excluded from the electronic definition for the HIPAA Security Rule. If the faxed document was not in electronic form when your sent it, it is excluded from the electronic rule. Accordingly, you can send paper faxes back and forth as usual.
However, if you send a fax via your computer, which is in electronic form before you send it, it is not excluded. Even so, common sense has to be applied. From a business point of view, what are the odds that another person or company would intercept an electronically faxed prescription request, letter, etc., and use it in a derogatory manner that might injure the person who is subject to the fax, letter, etc. In my personal oppinion, those odds are extremely low and virtually nonexistent. As such, I plan to continue sending and faxes in both paper and computer generated form, including the use of a fax service, which is (to my knowledge) still required for broadband faxes since software has not yet been developed to handle a direct fax.
Any thoughts to the contrary?
Wil Haines, CPO
Today, I spoke with a proper government official about this matter. The answer can be found in various documents starting with the CFRs, Federal Register, Final Security Rule, etc. The short answer was this: Paper faxes are excluded from the electronic definition for the HIPAA Security Rule. If the faxed document was not in electronic form when your sent it, it is excluded from the electronic rule. Accordingly, you can send paper faxes back and forth as usual.
However, if you send a fax via your computer, which is in electronic form before you send it, it is not excluded. Even so, common sense has to be applied. From a business point of view, what are the odds that another person or company would intercept an electronically faxed prescription request, letter, etc., and use it in a derogatory manner that might injure the person who is subject to the fax, letter, etc. In my personal oppinion, those odds are extremely low and virtually nonexistent. As such, I plan to continue sending and faxes in both paper and computer generated form, including the use of a fax service, which is (to my knowledge) still required for broadband faxes since software has not yet been developed to handle a direct fax.
Any thoughts to the contrary?
Wil Haines, CPO
Citation
“Faxing under HIPAA,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/220800.
