HIPAA Compliant Fax: Secure Faxing for Healthcare | eFax Corporate^®

Secure Compliant Fax Service for Healthcare

Since 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule has been protecting patients’ personal information and giving them greater control over who has access to their medical records. For medical professionals, the rule has far-reaching implications. It governs how information about patients is collected, stored and even how it is shared with other medical professionals, as well as insurance companies and other parties. Sending sensitive patient information isn’t quite as simple as shooting an email; instead, medical professionals and clinics must make sure that their methods of sharing this information are secure. 

This means that emails sent by medical outlets must be secure. When medical professionals call a patient, they need to have a plan in place to check that they are truly speaking to their patient, or they need to have permission to talk to a family member or care provider. 

But what about sending patient information via fax?

Just as with phone or email communication, HIPAA-compliant faxing focuses on ensuring that information is being shared to the right source and that it’s being shared securely. Faxing can be a convenient way to send patient files, lab results and more — but only if you do so in a HIPAA-complaint way. Keep reading to learn the HIPAA rules surrounding faxing, what you need to know to send a secure fax and how to choose the best online fax service for meeting HIPAA, HITRUST, and FedRAMP requirements.

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What are HIPAA Fax Rules?

The HIPAA Privacy Rule covers all forms of communication, including HIPAA fax transmission requirements. This includes written communications, phone, email and fax communications. 

So how does HIPAA compliant faxing relate to security? HIPAA rules surrounding faxing largely focus on ensuring that the fax is being sent to the correct location and that it is protected if it winds up in the wrong hands.

In addition to taking precautions to make sure that the fax goes to the right place, healthcare offices also need to take one extra step in case the fax does wind up in the wrong hands. A HIPAA compliant fax cover sheet does not contain sensitive patient information and does include information about who the fax should be going to. That way, if someone else receives it, they can send it to the correct location.

How to Send a HIPAA-Compliant Fax

Let’s take a closer look at what it means to send a HIPAA-compliant fax on a traditional machine or using an online fax service.

Say that a medical testing lab wants to send a patient’s test results to their primary care physician. HIPAA rules require that the lab take precautions to ensure that the faxed results go to the correct fax number. How they go about putting safeguards in place can vary. The lab may choose to verify that they are using the correct fax number each time. This may mean having a lab technician or other employee contact the office of the primary care physician that the fax needs to be sent to confirm the number. 

However, if that lab frequently faxes records to that physician’s clinic, this may be too time-consuming. Instead, they could choose to pre-program frequently used numbers into their fax machine or online fax system. This pre-program system acts as a safeguard that decreases the risk of a fax being sent to the wrong location. Before they hit send on the fax, healthcare offices also need to attach a HIPAA complaint cover sheet that clarifies the intended recipient. This is designed to deter someone else from looking at the information. However, this method isn’t foolproof when using a traditional fax machine.

The best HIPAA-compliant online fax service is one that simplifies the process of sending secure faxes. It allows the healthcare office to ensure that they are meeting privacy rules without increasing their employee workload by making choosing a recipient easy. Also, it allows the office to quickly create HIPAA compliant cover sheets, even though these cover sheets are less necessary with online faxes, as the fax is sent directly to the recipient’s inbox. eFax Corporate^® ensures data confidentiality and integrity, with encryption protocols preventing unauthorized access during transmission.

Is Faxing HIPAA Compliant?

Utilizing HIPAA fax services ensures compliance, as standard faxes sent by most offices are not. To make your fax HIPAA compliant, you must show that you’ve taken precautions to ensure it is going to the correct location.

If you’re using an online fax service, your service will need to be encrypted. In addition to a secure faxing solution, you’ll also need a HIPAA-compliant fax cover sheet.

So, do you need a HIPAA-compliant fax machine? Not necessarily. However,  traditional fax machines make it easy to make mistakes when entering the fax number of your recipient. Faxes may also sit on the machine of the recipient for some time. Anyone walking by can pick up the fax, breaking HIPAA rules and exposing patient information.

You might also like: HIPAA Compliant VoIP

Are Online Fax Services HIPAA Compliant?

If your healthcare office is still relying on a traditional fax machine, you could be putting your patients’ sensitive information at risk—and your office at risk of a lawsuit for breaking HIPAA privacy rules. You may ask: “So how do I get a HIPAA compliant fax machine?” The answer may be to skip the machine altogether and make the move to online faxing. Not only can this make it easier to ensure compliance, but it’s also the cheapest HIPAA-compliant fax service available today because you won’t need to worry about investing in a machine or the maintenance that goes with it.

But is online fax HIPAA compliant? Much like traditional fax machines, this depends on the specific online fax service that you choose, and how you use it. Modern online fax solutions make it easier to meet—or exceed—HIPAA privacy rules. Your faxes go directly to the recipient’s email inbox. With the best online fax service for medical practices, you can send encrypted faxes, quickly check that they are going to the right recipient, and attach a HIPAA-compliant cover sheet. Because your fax goes directly to the recipient’s inbox, you won’t have to worry about the wrong eyes landing on your fax.

Is HIPAA Faxing Safe for Highly-Sensitive Documents?

Is fax secure for sensitive data? This depends on the type of fax you use and the precautions you take when sending your fax. If you’re meeting the necessary HIPAA requirements for encrypted file sharing, and your faxing solution is secure, then faxing is a safe, effective and fast way to send and receive even highly sensitive documents.

However, if you’re still using a traditional fax machine or are using an online fax service that isn’t secured, you should avoid sending sensitive documents. These could wind up in the wrong hands, exposing your patient’s information and putting your healthcare office at risk of a lawsuit for failing to protect your patients.

When evaluating an online fax solution, security must cover two key areas:

• Data in transit: When a document is transmitted from your device to the recipient, it is vulnerable to intercept. TLS encryption ensures that as your fax travels, it is shielded from external tampering or eavesdropping. 
• Data at rest: Once a fax is received and stored, it must remain protected against unauthorized server-side access. eFax secures your stored documents using military-grade AES 256-bit encryption. Documents are housed in secure, bit-container formats within high-security data centers, ensuring that your archived records are as safe as those actively moving through the pipeline. 

Also: Best Practices for Data Governance in Healthcare

eFax: Fax Services

HIPAA Compliant Faxing

eFax Corporate^® is a highly encrypted secure online fax solution that allows heavily regulated industries to gain HIPAA Compliance with signed Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) for enhanced protection of their sensitive data. By utilizing signed BAAs, eFax Corporate helps you maintain the confidentiality and integrity of data, while encryption protocols safeguard unauthorized access during transmission.

Healthcare professionals depend on fax every day to send and receive documents. eFax Corporate^® ensures they have the security and compliance they need when faxing medical documents from our iOS and Android mobile apps, our eFax Print-to-Fax tool, and our MyPortal web app.

• Enhance the security of your fax communications and maintain compliance with applicable requirements under HIPAA, GLBA and SOX.
  
• Utilize AES 256-bit encryption to ensure data remains secure and protected from unauthorized access during transmission.
  
• Audit Trails provide tracking and monitor fax activities to ensure transparency and accountability. 

Get the Guide: How to Fax Medical Records

HITRUST CSF Certification

While the Department of Health and Human Services mandates HIPAA compliance, there is no official, government-issued “HIPAA Certification” for software vendors. To bridge this gap and provide peace of mind, the healthcare and technology industries rely on the HITRUST Common Security Framework (CSF).

HITRUST is a third-party audited certification that harmonizes multiple compliance standards—including HIPAA, NIST, ISO, and COBIT—into a single, highly demanding security framework. As a certified HITRUST CSF cloud fax provider, eFax eliminates the heavy lifting of vendor risk assessment for your compliance officers:

• Pre-audited controls: Independent testing to prove security controls meet the highest global standards.
• Continuous risk management: HITRUST requires continuous monitoring and regular recertification, ensuring that eFax defenses evolve alongside emerging cyber threats.
• Streamlined vendor management: By partnering with a HITRUST-certified solution, your organization can fast-track its own internal compliance audits and confidently safeguard PHI. 

eFax Corporate^® and its electronic signature solution, jSign, are HITRUST Risk-based, 2-year (r2) Certified, a certification it has maintained since 2019. 

FedRAMP Authorized for Government Agencies

For interacting with government agencies, the baseline standard for cloud safety is the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP^®). FedRAMP provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services, ensuring they are secure enough to handle highly sensitive government data. FedRAMP High Authorization requires:

• Controls: Implementation of more than 400 mandatory cybersecurity controls under NIST SP 800-53.
• Continuous monitoring: Monthly vulnerability scans, asset inventories, and system change notifications.
• Isolated cloud hosting: Hosted and segregated in a government-authorized cloud, such as AWS GovCloud.
• AAL3 hardware authentication: Cryptographic authenticators that goes beyond app-based MFA or SMS authentication

ECFax powered by eFax^® has achieved FedRAMP^® High Authorization, enabling you to interact with government agencies in a fully-compliant cloud environment. Recently, ECFax was selected by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for use in all VA clinics, medical centers, hospitals, and technology centers.

Is a Cloud Fax HIPAA Secure and Reliable?

Not only is the eFax online faxing solution an easy way to meet HIPAA privacy rules, but it’s also secure and reliable. eFax utilizes encryption protocols so you can transmit documents safely while ensuring that the privacy of your sensitive information remains confidential and protected from unauthorized access during transmission.

While not all email to fax is HIPAA compliant, eFax Corporate^® is. Whether you’re still using a traditional fax machine or have made the move to online faxing, you need a solution that goes above HIPAA compliance with secure, reliable cloud faxing.

Is There a Cloud Faxing Solution for Healthcare Providers?

If you’ve been on the hunt for a HIPAA-compliant fax app for iPhone, Android, or for use on your desktop, eFax Corporate^® is the solution. Our safe and secure cloud faxing solution allows healthcare offices of all shapes and sizes to send patient information, records, test results and more with ease. Add a HIPAA compliant fax cover sheet, choose your recipient and send your fax directly to the recipient without worrying about it landing in the wrong hands. 

If you’re a healthcare provider looking to protect your patients’ sensitive information and meet the HIPAA Privacy Rules, we can help. Start your free trial with one of the best HIPAA-compliant digital online fax solutions available today!

Frequently Asked Questions Around HIPAA Fax Services

Is eFax Corporate^® safe for HIPAA?

Yes, eFax Corporate^® is safe and complies with HIPAA regulations.

HIPAA allows for data-sharing, but only between certain stakeholders. Any wrong step — like using a non-secure file-sharing platform — can make data available to unintended recipients and even bad actors. And unfortunately, many typical methods companies use to share information are not as safe as they seem. This is especially true as hackers continually improve their tactics.

Healthcare organizations need a tamper-proof way to share sensitive patient information — and eFax provides just that. 

eFax Corporate^® uses military-grade encryption to ensure no one can intercept the data while in transit. It doesn’t matter if your team faxes from their desktop, mobile device or laptop — the AES 256-bit encryption protects the information to help your organization remain HIPAA compliant. 

What is the HIPAA-compliant way to send a fax?

Technically, traditional machine faxing can be HIPAA-compliant because it offers point-to-point data protection. The issue may arise when the fax prints out at the recipient’s machine, though. Healthcare organizations must ensure they are sending the document to the right recipient and include a fax cover letter explaining who the information is for in case it ends up in the wrong hands. 

However, even with these precautions, traditional faxing isn’t foolproof. Documents can easily end up with the wrong people, especially if they’re left forgotten at fax machines. And if the wrong person accesses the information, the file-sharing process is no longer HIPAA-compliant. 

A better solution is eFax. It offers consistently safe and HIPAA-compliant file-sharing processes, thanks to the AES 256-bit encryption. You no longer have to worry about whether your faxes are going to the right place or if someone has accidentally intercepted them. By using eFax as your secure fax app, you know exactly where your information is going — and that the data is completely protected in transit.  

Is fax to email HIPAA-compliant?

Email itself is not HIPAA-compliant. When you send a standard email, it travels in plain text from your mail server to your recipient’s. That means anyone can intercept the email during transit, including when it’s left unread in the recipient’s inbox. 

However, fax via email can be HIPAA-compliant if you use a service like eFax Corporate^®. 

eFax Corporate^® employs military-grade encryption to ensure your documents have the ultimate protection throughout transit. Instead of traveling in plain text, the information on the emailed fax gets jumbled until the recipient opens the email. That means anyone who tries to hack or intercept the email will only see an incomprehensible set of characters — one that’s almost impossible to decrypt. 

What is the difference between being HIPAA compliant and HITRUST certified?

HIPAA is a federal law establishing data privacy regulations. HITRUST CSF is an independent, third-party framework that rigorously audits a vendor’s infrastructure.

Does eFax support FedRAMP requirements for government use?

Yes. ECFax by eFax is a FedRAMP-authorized cloud fax solution specifically engineered to meet the stringent data security, cryptographic and continuous monitoring demands of government agencies and contractors.