Proper handling of protected health information (PHI) is the single most important factor in any healthcare IT decision. Yet traditional faxing creates several obstacles:
Cloud faxing offers healthcare organizations a secure, efficient alternative that aligns workflow needs with HIPAA and HITRUST requirements.
Our fully managed Private Fax Cloud® architecture further eases cloud fax implementation and adoption. It’s designed from the ground up for healthcare organizations that need HIPAA-compliant faxing without the overhead of on-premises infrastructure.
Cloud fax services include several tools and measures that support HIPAA compliance and tie directly to HITRUST domains. The full breadth of security measures is beyond the scope of this article, so we’ll highlight the three that are arguably most important during vendor selection:
Encryption is the most fundamental safeguard against PHI interception—and it’s mandatory under HIPAA. Without it, healthcare organizations unnecessarily expose themselves to data breach risk, potential compliance violations, and severe financial penalties.
The industry standard is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 128-bit, 192-bit, or 256-bit key lengths, all of which would take longer than the age of the universe to crack through brute force. Transport Layer Security (TLS) further secures data transmission by encrypting connections between sending and receiving devices.
Access controls are critical when fax data is decrypted for use, such as human viewing or automated workflow routing. Enterprise-grade cloud fax services typically control access through:
Audit logs are an essential compliance trail covering every action related to fax transmissions. These logs permanently and immutably track:
Good logging facilitates HIPAA compliance evaluations, automatic alerting and anomaly detection, and even external audits in the event of a security incident.
Cloud fax services from proven enterprise vendors help healthcare orgs manage PHI in alignment with HIPAA and HITRUST requirements. Encryption, access controls, and audit logs are among the most critical tools built into all reputable fax solutions.
To discuss your specific security and workflow needs with a fax solutions architect, please contact us today.