Usually when you go to the doctor, they have you fill out myriad forms with all your personal data, including Social Security numbers and other confidential information. You’d like to think they protect all that data, but a recent incident involving a hospital proved that wrong.
According to Charlotte, NC’s Channel 2 News, an Oregon man has regularly been receiving faxes from a hospital in Wisconsin, containing private patient data. When one of those faxes also had info on a patient in South Carolina, Stephen Butler alerted the local news channel, which investigated.
"About a year ago I got a fax that came through my computer, and I couldn't understand why I was getting it," Butler said. "About every other month, I get a stack of patient names." Butler said one of the faxes came from a number with an 843 area code, and News 2 tracked that number to Roper Hospital on Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston.
According to a story on Channel 2’s website, Butler says United Healthcare sent the fax to Roper asking them if their client was still in the hospital. Butler went on to say that it looked like employees from Roper checked a box that the client was currently under their care, then faxed out the form that Butler eventually received.
You have to wonder why a hospital is allegedly sending confidential data like this to a blind fax number. One option they should consider is Fax over IP, or FoIP. When used, it can be made highly secure because it can be transmitted via HTTPS, the same digital security that allows bank Web sites to share financial information with its customers.
The combination of ease of use and security makes FoIP the best of many options when it comes to sending documents like medical information. It is neither too complex nor insecure. And while it is not a new technology, faxes have gotten an upgrade through FoIP. This allows a fax machine to deliver more advantages without the downsides of newer technologies that require either adoption from both parties or/and some measure of training.
Making the upgrade to FoIP is easy, too. There is no need to replace existing fax machines or multi-function printers because adapters such as those offered by AudioCodes (News - Alert), such as its Fax ATA solution, let existing fax machines go digital.
As for the hospital mix-up, United Healthcare said it is investigating the matter, but an official who oversees compliance and regulations for United Healthcare declined further comment.
Edited by Blaise McNamee