The time is right for doctors to ask: Should we axe the fax?

If you’re of a certain age, you probably know that iconic sound. The quick, monotone dialing followed by a highpitched squeaky yet scratchy wail.

The fax machine, once a technologically advanced and essential piece of office equipment, revolutionized the speed at which documents could be shared, leaving the mail system in its dust. But that was the 1980s.

When I first began practising medicine many moons ago, I had to buy a fax machine. To be honest, it seemed strange even at the time, as email and digital communications were already standard fare. But for my part-time role as a hospitalist in those days, it was a necessity to communicate with my new place of employment.

Even today, there are many contact points in the health care system that still use faxes. A survey in 2017 found that two-thirds of physicians use the fax machine as a primary means of communication with other health care professionals.

Specifically, in a family medicine practice, we regularly receive faxes from (or are required to send them to) hospitals, specialists’ offices, private labs, diagnostic imaging facilities and pharmacies. So while you might think the fax machine is collecting dust in 2019, it’s difficult to let it go just yet. And although we are gently transitioning to e-fax, it is hard to leave the fax world behind on our own.

There’s a movement happening in various jurisdictions calling for health care systems to “Axe the Fax.” Sparked by a grassroots campaign, late last year the British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, banned the National Health Service from purchasing fax machines effective Jan. 1, 2019, and ordered all faxes be completely phased out in hospitals and physicians’ offices by April 2020.

Australia launched an incentive program this year to help move clinicians away from faxes to more secure, digital communication platforms.

So why not in Canada? Constitutionally, health care is delivered by the provinces and territories. Each province or territory operates independently.

Also, where does one begin? It may not be safe to get rid of your office’s fax capabilities too quickly, if others are still using it.

Here’s an example: A new patient comes to my office and during her intake appointment we learn she’s had a few recent hospitalizations, including one in another province. The current way to get her health records is to request them from the hospital or her previous family doctor by fax.

It’s just the way it’s done — or the way it’s been done for a long time.

But imagine if that same patient had access to all her personal health information along with the ability to give consent to share the hospital reports securely and seamlessly? They could be transmitted in encrypted email and custom apps, which are superior to faxes in speed, security and accessibility.

The ability to take advantage of advances in digital technology and apply them to health care is at the heart of ACCESS 2022.

ACCESS 2022 is a movement, underpinned by a standards-based technological framework, that Canada Health Infoway is leading to promote a future in which all Canadians have secure access to their personal health information, any time, anywhere, from the device of their choice.

So are Canadians ready to Axe the Fax in health care?

The time has never been better.

I’m sure nobody will miss hearing that high-pitched squeaky, scratchy wail!