Just the other day I overheard someone talking to a receptionist at their doctor’s office. They were asking for the fax number so that their physical therapist could send over the report and discharge summary. Now, is it just us, or is this baffling? It’s 2018. We have the ability to literally pay with our face...on our mobile devices, but we still have to fax medical reports and records? If you don’t care to get a physical paper receipt for every cup of coffee you buy, then you probably are not too keen on having to read faxed reports with smudged ink. Share your radiology reports with a single click on a secure platform. Here’s how…

Secure Download and Viewer Links

While it is not ethically acceptable to attach a PDF with private health information to your outgoing email, that does not mean that sharing reports, records and images across the Internet is not appropriate. In fact, (and we might be a little bias) we encourage it! Now, if you want to pay for postage to have your records mailed; or pay for the paper, ink, and physical storage space required to fax records - well that’s your decision. However, if you are looking for a cheaper, and by far the safest method to share records, go with the Cloud.

A Cloud powered PACS allows you to share your reports and images directly from your worklist. All you have to do is click on the share icon next to the report or image you wish to share. From there you will be given two options: do you want to share a secure download link or a secure viewer link? It’s pretty self-explanatory - with the viewer link, the recipient gets to see the file and that’s all. With the download link, they have the ability to save the data. While you can copy and paste these uniquely generated links into your outgoing message, you can also share the links via email. You simply have to determine what your preference is.

If You Are A Physician
If you are a physician treating human patients, you most likely are required by FDA, CE, or other local jurisdictions to ensure that all patient health information is protected. Well solutions like Purview ViVA which are supported by the Cloud enable this feature. With you get the peace of mind that an additional security level has been added to the platform so that you can safely send protected health information through secured links. In order to ensure the correct recipient gets the intended data, your recipient is required to have specific credentials. While these fields can vary, we typically suggest using the patient’s date of birth and last name. If the recipient has this information, the transaction is essentially a lock and key fit. The data is the lock and the credentials are the key that can access it.

If You Are A Veterinarian

If you are treating high valued animals that require their identities to be protected, such as a famous panda bear or prize-winning race horse, you can follow suit with the physicians as mentioned about. Just select “Send as PHI Secured Link”. However, if you do not need to have your information protected, you can bypass the above scenario by not selecting this option.

Final Thought

While faxes are typically sent to the correct recipient, those print outs can get all jumbled, misplaced, and even lost. Not to mention the physical space they take up. After all, with paper records, you need a filing cabinet. Either that, or your staff has to take the time - and time is money after all - to scan each page into your electronic system. Why not just avoid that altogether? Start sharing patient records, reports, and images with a single click today.

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