White Paper: Healthcare and Secure Document Delivery - The Future of Fax

By Mark D Malone

May 10, 2018 -  A white paper profiling retarus, Inc. and their answers to healthcare compliance.

"Healthcare and Secure Document Delivery: The Future of Fax"


The Retarus Press Release

Is a Fax here, or is it there?

Who's got the “fax hot potato”?

There's a point at which a fax is neither here, nor there.

Simply by nature of it being a fax means it’s being delivered and for a tiny fraction of time, it’s momentarily in the ethereal space somewhere at a point after it was sent -- and before it was received. 

At the surface it may seem trivial, but the definition of "here" versus "there" matters greatly since HIPAA has a delivery standard for vendors about sending Patient Health Information (PHI) electronically - cloud based fax (CBF) vendors included. 

Plainly, and in terms of fax delivery, the definition gives the distinction of transient versus persistent data storage. Transient cloud fax delivery providers can be exempt from becoming a HIPAA Business Associate (BA), while those that temporarily store the fax, must. The devil is in the details and fax vendors must declare which it is - a transient conduit or a delivery method where PHI faxes are stored - even if for fractions of time. 

If they get it wrong significant financial penalties are at risk for wrongful classifications.

Are all cloud fax providers conduits or much more? Which need to sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) and which do not?

Take fresh look at the “The HIPAA Conduit Exception Rule and Transmission of PHI" in an article from the HIPAA Journal online - and decide for yourself. -mm

babyTEL's Highlights T.38 Advantages for Healthcare

This past summer, babyTEL's Steve Dorsey was a guest columnist for the Health IT Outcomes online newsletter. The topic no doubt was T.38 and real-time fax.

babyTEL and other T.38 providers do not need to be a HIPAA Businesses Associate, because of the HIPAA Conduit Exemption. Check out what Steve and babyTEL has to say about the future of fax.

"It's 3 Ways T.38 Real-Time Fax is HIPAA Compliant". 

XMedius & AVST: A Merger out of Necessity?

Some recent and interesting news from Montreal. StoneCalibre, the privately -funded investment firm that owns XMedius, announced that it has has acquired Unified Communications vendor AVST. 

The two companies have merged. 

I spoke to Stephan Vidal, Vice President for Marketing & Communications at XMedius a couple of weeks ago. The merger will consolidate some of the overlapping business functions and they plan to leverage existing customers and their respective sales channels going forward.

What direction does the merger take XMedius and their future for fax?

According to Global Market Insights, Inc., the Unified Communications Market size is forecast to hit USD $96 billion by 2023.  On the other hand, cloud and computer-based fax markets are growing at modest double digits with much of the business driven by migrations to cloud solutions.  

On the surface, it may seem that StoneCalibre investors are hedging their fax bet by broadening in to UC, complete with an established sales channel where cross-pollinating products and services make sense. 

What does it suggest about their confidence in fax by itself however? 

Check out the press release.