eFax Blog

Insights from athenahealth: Enhancing Healthcare Communication with Integrated Cloud Fax Capabilities

Compare All PlansStart Faxing Now
blog-pano-athena-healthcare

Even as patient records have been digitized and communication systems have evolved, the healthcare industry still depends on fax to send and receive vital information. Recent data suggests 46% of healthcare facilities still rely on paper fax to exchange information with other providers in the absence of an EHR, according to a survey facilitated by CHIME and sponsored by Consensus Cloud Solutions. About 30% rely on digital cloud fax. 

“The reason why [fax is so prevalent] is because there are so many entities in the healthcare ecosystem, and they all have different preferences,” explained Mohana Nagda, Corporate Strategy Manager at athenahealth, a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for healthcare practices nationwide. “Nothing is really centralized, so [fax has] been the trusted and reliable method of communication in healthcare.”

From referral orders to prior authorizations to medical record requests and other information, Nagda and her team see all kinds of critical clinical data being faxed by the 160,000+ clinicians on the athenaOne® network. But traditional fax brings administrative challenges that can impede the flow of data, interrupting the exchange of information and the delivery of care. By integrating digital cloud fax directly within the athenaOne EHR, athenahealth helped customers streamline their communication workflows to strengthen continuity of care, revenue and referrals. Nagda explained the impact of eFax Corporate® by Consensus Cloud Solutions during a recent fireside chat at HIMSS 2025 with Fred Goldstein, PopHealth Week Radio Podcast Host.

Facing fax challenges

Traditional fax communications can slow down small clinics and large health systems alike.

“The biggest challenge is that it’s a manual effort,” Nagda said. “A lot of these practices that we work with have to manage a lot of the faxes themselves, so medical staff are trying to upload the faxes, process the documentation, and manually enter a lot of the information. It leads to human error.” 

This cumbersome, time-consuming process takes clinical staff away from patients and increases inefficiencies that significantly impact care. To relieve providers of this administrative burden, athenahealth created a Document Services team to take over fax workflows, allowing clinicians to focus on managing care. Although customers loved the service, it suffered from some unanticipated technical limitations.

At first, athenahealth established toll-free numbers where customers could forward their existing fax lines. The Document Services team would receive the faxes and process the documents on behalf of the customer, then attach the data to the appropriate patient record. Although athenahealth was shouldering the burden, the process of forwarding faxes across telecommunication (telco) providers led to resolution loss, dropped calls, and other technical glitches. Customers and athenaheath staff were constantly having to troubleshoot and retry sending these faxes, while the customer’s partners and providers were frustrated their faxes weren’t getting through.

To streamline the workflow, athenahealth turned to eFax Corporate. “Any opportunity to automate the process and make sure that we eliminate human error and increase accuracy, especially in the medical industry, is [critical],” Nagda said.

Elevating fax efficiency

At that point, athenahealth was already leveraging eFax Corporate as its internal fax provider through “a tried and trusted partnership,” Nagda said. “We love the team at Consensus, so we said, ‘Why don’t we extend this to our customers? Why can’t our customers benefit from Consensus’ capabilities?’”

Integrating eFax Corporate directly into athenahealth’s athenaOne® software instantly solved the Doc Services team’s fax forwarding problems, enabling customers to streamline communications while improving documentation quality.

Through this integration, athenaOne users can port their local fax number directly to eFax Corporate. From there, Consensus automatically digitizes each document and attaches it to the matching patient record in the EHR. The difference is faxes are no longer being call-forwarded, it’s a direct digital path from eFax into athenaOne. “I call this the ‘email moment’ for faxing, because it allows faxes to be digital,” Nagda says. “It’s faster, it’s more reliable, it’s more accurate—and obviously, those all translate to significant outcomes.” 

Customers have been thrilled with the integration, which athenahealth and Consensus launched in October 2024. “The most common feedback has been, ‘Wow. It just works,’” Nagda said. “And obviously, there’s a cost savings associated with it as well. Previously, customers had to contract with a telco vendor, and Consensus’ rates are definitely a lot more competitive.”

Typically, eliminating legacy telco costs generates a return on investment of up to 80%, based on the average POTS (plain old telephone service) line cost between $60 to $80. Plus, eFax efficiencies reduce the labor expenses associated with manually processing traditional faxes, enhancing productivity by reallocating staff time to focus on patient care. 

“Anything we can do to improve the lives of our customers and providers—and make sure they have less costs and their time is more focused on the work that they’re supposed to be doing, which is seeing patients and delivering healthcare—is our end goal,” Nagda said.

Advancing the future of fax

For healthcare providers, payers, and other stakeholders exchanging critical patient information every day, fax is here to stay—and now, thanks to the cloud, it’s enjoying a sleek upgrade from the stodgy machines of decades past. 

As a HIPAA compliant and HITRUST certified solution, eFax Corporate adds an extra layer of security and reliability to athenahealth customers’ communications—providing a digitized, centralized document workflow that scales effortlessly from small clinics to large health systems, and any size operation in between. 

Considering these benefits, the healthcare industry can’t afford to abandon fax as a streamlined solution to exchange data between disparate systems. 

“It’s just critical that we have the information in the right people’s hands, whether that’s payers or providers or the patients,” Nagda says. “Faxing is a crucial technology still today. We’re working slowly to move toward interoperability, but it’s not going to happen overnight, so our work with Consensus is a massive boost in that direction.”

Send and receive faxes in minutes.

Posted in:

icon-blue-online-faxOnline Fax

Related Articles

Young,Man,Watching,Stock,Market,On,Laptop
Online Fax

Analog vs. Digital Fax: Why You Should Upgrade to a Modern Fax Solution

Online Fax

How to Resend a Fax

Online Fax

How to Securely Fax Insurance Documents Online

Sunnyvale,,Ca,,Usa,-,May,4,,2022:,Website,Homepage,Of
Online Fax

How to Fax Individual IRS Tax Forms

Various,Blank,Usa,Tax,Forms,Close,Up
Online Fax

How to Fax IRS Authorization & Representation Forms

Woman,Working,Transmitter,Fax,Document,Is,Office,Equipment
Online Fax

Fax Forwarding: What it is and How it Works

Aug,13th,2024,:,A,Woman,Holding,And,Using,Iphone
Online Fax

How to Send a Fax from Your iPhone Without an App

Online Fax

Digital Signatures: What Are They and How Do They Work?

Businesswoman,Hand,Working,With,Laptop,Computer,,Tablet,And,Smart,Phone
Online Fax

What is Digital Fax?

Business,Hand,Working,In,Stock,Market,With,Fax,Icons,Coming
Online Fax

What is Internet Fax?

Online Fax

What is Mobile Fax?

Online Fax

Can You Email to a Fax Machine? A Step-By-Step eFax Guide 

Online Fax

How to Get a Fax Number: A Complete Guide

Online Fax

How to Fax from a Scanner: A Step-by-Step Guide

Online Fax

The Complete Guide to Fax Marketing

Online Fax

How To Fax a Prescription to a Pharmacy or Hospital

Online Fax

Fax Server: What Is It and How Does It Work?

businessman faxing check
Online Fax

Can You Fax a Check? What You Need to Know

fax modem
Online Fax

Fax Modems: What They Are and How to Choose One?

Electronic Signatures
Online Fax

What Are Electronic Signatures: Key Benefits and Legalities

Scan To Fax
Online Fax

Scan To Fax: How to Scan and Fax Using Mobile Phone

How to Fax from iPhone
Online Fax

How to Fax from iPhone Using Notes: Step-by-Step Guide

What-Is-a-Fax-Number
Online Fax

What is a Fax Number: Meaning and Importance Explained

encryption-scaled-blog
Online Fax

Are Faxes Encrypted?

efax vs fax
Online Fax

The Difference Between eFax and Fax: Why Take Fax Online?

how-long-does-a-fax-take
Online Fax

How Long Does A Fax Take To Send?

Fax Machine Copier Printer
Online Fax

Fax Near Me: How to Find Faxing Services Near Me?

what is a fax
Online Fax

What is a Fax?

An image of a MacBook and iPhone, both of which can be used to send faxes.
Online Fax

What is a Fax Machine?

print-to-fax-button
Online Fax

What is Print to Fax?

data privacy laws
Online Fax

5 Ways Your Faxing Might Not Comply with Privacy Laws (and What to Do About it)

Fax-Tracking
Online Fax

Fax Tracking: How To Know Where Your Fax Is

businesses use fax
Online Fax

Are Faxes Still Used? Understanding the Modern Day Uses

fax tax forms
Online Fax

IRS Fax Numbers To Fax Your Tax Forms

International Digital Faxing
Online Fax

Online Fax Number Examples: International & Local Formats

Fax Machine
Online Fax

Fax Machine Prices: Factors, Features, and Cost Considerations

Fax Machine Alternative
Online Fax

Fax Machine Alternatives: Why Online Faxing is More Reliable?

Find the Best Fax App
Online Fax

Best Fax App: Here’s What To Look For

Online Signature
Online Fax

Are Electronic Signatures Legal? Your Guide to E-Signature Validity

why-do-doctors-still-use-fax-scaled
Online Fax

Why Do Doctors Still Use Fax?

can-faxes-be-intercepted-scaled
Online Fax

Can a Fax Be Intercepted?

back2future
Online Fax

7 Best Fax Moments in Film and TV

previous arrow icon
next arrow icon