Fax

With our faxing module, you can send and receive electronic faxes. All of the steps listed below can also be done using Avon's APIs.

Prerequisites

Part 1: Set up fax number (EMR)

First, set up your fax number.

The triage team is the set of organization members that are automatically added as participants into message threads with patients. The triage team is meant to be the first-line defense for answering questions from patients and can page other members into the thread as needed.

Follow the instructions here to set up your fax number.

Part 2: Set up referring providers (EMR)

In order to send a fax to someone, they must be added into the platform as a referring provider. Therefore, add all providers that you are planning to fax as referring providers.

Follow the instructions here to set up your referring providers.

Steps

Step 1: Send a fax (EMR)

There are three ways to send a fax through the EMR: throguh the faxes tab, the faxes tab in the patient chart, and from an individual visit note, care plan or document.

Option 1: Faxes Tab:

To send a fax from the faxes tab:

• Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
• Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Faxes
• Click on the "Send a new fax" button on the top right-hand corner

Option 2: Faxes Tab in the Patient Chart:

To send a fax from the faxes tab in the patient chart:

• Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
• Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Patients
• Click on "View chart" for the appropriate patient
• Click on Chat on the top bar
• Click on the "Send a new fax" button on the top right-hand corner

Option 3: Visit Note, Care Plan, or Document:

To send a fax from an individual visit note, care plan, or document:

• Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
• Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Patients
• Click on "View chart" for the appropriate patient
• Find the visit note, care plan, or document you want to fax and click on it
• Scroll to the bottom and click on the "More" button
• Click on "Send e-fax"

E-Fax Modal:

• Once you've hit "Send a new fax" or "Send e-fax" in one of the three ways listed above, the e-fax modal will pop up. In it, set:
  • Patient: Select the patient that this fax is about. If you used Option 2 or Option 3 to get to the e-fax modal, the patient will already be selected.
  • Recipient: - Who the fax should be sent to. The receipients dropdown is populated from the referring providers list.
  • Cover Page Subject: A cover page is automatically added onto all faxes. This is the subject line for the cover page.
  • Cover Page Text: The text that goes on the cover page. The following HIPAA disclaimer is automatically added to every cover page:
    • "This communication may contain confidential information that is privileged and legally protected from disclosure by federal law including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This information is intended for only the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that reading, disseminating, disclosing, distributing, copying, acting upon, or otherwise using the information contained in this correspondence is strictly prohibited. If you have received this fax in error, please forward this message back to the sender or contact them directly, delete this message from all electronic storage medium and destroy all copies."
  • Files: List of visit notes, care plans, and documents to attach in the fax. If you used Option 3 to get to the e-fax modal, the selected file will already be attached but you can add more files if desired.
• Click "Send E-Fax"
• If there were no errors in creating the fax, a success modal will pop up stating that the fax was sucessfully created.
• A card for the newly sent fax will pop under the general faxes tab and the patient-specific faxes tab. The fax will have a tag showing that it's in one of three possible statuses:
  • Pending: The fax is in the queue to be sent.
  • Sent: The fax was successfully sent (it may take up till a day for a fax to be successfully sent).
  • Failed: Sending the fax failed for some reason (usually because the recipient's fax number is invalid) and the fax must be resent.

Step 2: Receive a fax (EMR)

To recieve a fax:

• Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
• Click on the hamburger menu on the top left corner > Faxes
• View all outbound and inbound faxes; all inbound faxes will have the tag "Incoming." If the fax sender's fax number matches the fax number of oen of the referring providers on file, the title of the incoming will be "Fax — Sent by {{Name of Sender}} ({{Fax number}})." Or else, it will read "Fax — Sent by ({{Fax number}})."
• Click on the "Attribute fax to patient" button to select which patient to attribute that fax to. Once you select the patient and hit attribute, the fax will show up on that patient's chart.

Step 3: View sent and received faxes (EMR)

To view sent and received faxes:

• Go to the EMR (e.g. emr.avonhealth.com)
• Find the desired fax card via the faxes tab or the patient's chart and click on it
• If it's an incoming fax, the fax will open up as a PDF file in the browser
• If it's an outgoing fax, the fax will be downloaded as a TIFF file