Using an Encrypted PDF together with Online Fax offers HIPAA Compliant efax option for receiving inb

Using an Encrypted PDF together with Online Fax offers HIPAA Compliant efax option for receiving inbound fax with Protected Health Information

Source Kevin V. McQueen Online Fax and SaaS OCR Specialist



Transmitting and receiving fax utilizing an online fax program is very fast and productive from a user perspective; but can it be used when receiving Patient Health Information even while continuing to be HIPAA compliant? The answer is yes, if you utilize a fax solution with adobe acrobat features integrated into their fax platform.

The ins and outs

A new toll free number is provisioned and affiliated with your email address. So the moment somebody transmits you a fax, the document gets changed into a graphic by the fax server in the cloud and then delivered to your e-mail address. The scale produced by using online fax service offers never busy inbound fax service an extra benefit to your consumers. If HIPAA compliance is required, you can turn-on the encrypted Pdf file features within the user selections for their fax account and create their password. Now, every single fax which comes into your account will be a password enabled PDF, maintaining PHI in HIPAA compliance. All that is needed is a free Adobe reader download in conjunction with the online fax service.

Not only will this help to make the receipt akin to fax more efficient and productive but it will get you one step closer to the ability to integrate the Patient Health Information form along with your digital documents solutions.

What exactly is Protected Health Information? The Privateness Guideline protects all "individually identifiable health information" held or transmitted by the protected entity or its business associate, in all forms or media, no matter whether electronic, paper, or oral. The Privacy Rule calls this information "protected health information (PHI)."12

"Individually recognizable health information" is information, such as demographic information, that correlates to:

· the individual's past, present or future bodily or mental health or condition,

· the provision of health care to the individual, or

· the past, present, or future payment for the provision of health care to the person,

and also identifies the individual or for which there is a sensible basis to believe it can be used to distinguish the individual.13 Individually identifiable health information includes numerous typical identifiers (e.g., name, address, birth date, Social Security Number).

The Privacy Rule excludes from protected health information employment records that a protected entity maintains in its role being an employer and education and many other records subject to, or defined in, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. §1232g.

Because of the challenges associated with receiving HIPAA compliant internet fax, it's been difficult for the small end user getting many possible inbound faxes coming from many different people to benefit from internet faxing. Having said that, password protected PDF's incorporated with your online fax solution changes that through providing a solution for small to large end users. Numerous fax service providers are claiming to have a HIPAA compliant fax solution, yet unless they can explain how the image of PHI is not traveling over the public internet, they are incorrect. Go to for the source on HIPAA compliance.

For more information or how to get your HIPAA complaint fax solution, go to http://www.faxsolutions.us