How Confidential is Internet Fax?

Q: I will be faxing confidential medical faxes. Can you guarantee confidentiality?

Source: Creative Commons, Internet Fax Central

A: Though we cannot guarantee confidentiality, as we are not an Internet fax provider ourselves but a site that reviews them, all of the top services we review go to great lengths to protect your information. In fact, Internet fax is more secure than a regular fax machine in general. Leaving the fax machine unattended makes your private documents vulnerable to prying eyes. With Internet fax, you can be sure that important files will be sent to your very own password-protected email or Internet fax provider web account and that no human interaction is happening while your documents are being sent. Most of these services even offer SSL encryption. Not only that, but your faxes stay organized within your account instead of cluttered papers that can potentially be lost.

Since you are asking about medical documents in particular, let's direct our attention to how these services handle HIPAA compliance. HIPAA, which stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, addresses the security and privacy of personal health data. Faxing personal health information requires that both the sender and recipient implement and follow security measures pursuant to HIPAA regulations. And because the Internet fax companies themselves cannot control where the user sends or receives faxes and information, they cannot officially state that they are HIPAA compliant. However, most of the services we review follow strict guidelines to meet factors that go into HIPAA compliance. For example, our top rated Internet fax service, MetroFax, does a great job of laying out the policies and procedures they implemented to meet criteria within the act here. Their statement even includes advice on how to keep your faxing practices more HIPAA compliant. MyFax also has a HIPAA statement, as do eFax and Fax87. To read more about Internet fax and HIPAA compliance, visit the HIPAA FAQ page. And be sure to check out the Internet fax comparison page so you can pick the best service for you.

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