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The Fax Machine

By Lisa Ricciuti posted 09-13-2014 15:15

  

Over the summer I joined a new co-working office space called the Centre for Social Innovation {CSI}.  The CSI has hundreds of members using its facilities from various industries and professions.  During the orientation session I was pretty surprised when the office manager pointed out an actual fax machine available for use.  The manager explained that it was mostly used by organizations communicating with people in other parts of the world who rely on less advanced technology.  Initially what seemed surprising to me was that the CSI actually owned a fax machine instead of offering fax capabilities through the high-tech printer. 

In graduate school I remember discussing the fax machine in some of my records management and archival courses.  When the fax machine first appeared it used to receive faxes on thin, flimsy paper that curled and eventually turned black, or disintegrated, if it wasn’t photocopied onto real paper. It also raised questions about which document was the original, the one being sent, the one being received, or both. 

In 2014 I’m amazed we still have to contend with technologies like the fax machine.  In particular the number of doctors’ offices that still rely on them seems strange and highly inefficient when I consider the majority of my patient records are now created and managed electronically.  It feels incongruous that doctors use electronic medical records systems and fax machines. 

So the big question is why the fax machine?  What benefit does it provide that can’t be achieved through some other form of technology?  Is the new technology too expensive or daunting to use? 

Earlier this summer I switched to a new family doctor.  At the end of my first appointment I filled out and signed a form authorizing the transfer of my medical records from my former doctor to the new one.  The form was then faxed to my former doctor.  I suppose in this instance the fax is used to authenticate the location of the request as a legitimate doctor’s office.  Perhaps it was also faxed to see my signature even though the recipient will not receive an original wet signature.   

One has to wonder if this isn’t something that could be accomplished electronically?  At this point I should mention that my former doctor’s office didn’t even have an email address, at least as of 2012 when I had to have a medical form filled in electronically.  I had no easy way to transmit the url to the doctor for access to the form.  So perhaps doctors’ offices are only equipped to receive information through faxes and snail mail, unless they are created directly in the electronic system.   I can only imagine that once the fax (or snail mail) is received, it gets scanned and added to the electronic system. 

I’m not sure what the best solution is, but I’m certain one exists.  The first step to implementing a new solution would be to identify and understand the reasons why so many industries still use the fax machine.  What is its unique offering that can’t be replicated or replaced by something more efficient? 

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