Is your organization primed for next generation healthcare connectivity?

Here's why traditional fax communication may be holding you back

Paper-based fax maintains a stranglehold on the healthcare industry.

Despite the digital revolution, today's providers still lean heavily on communication via paper fax, and they have for decades. These outdated communication methods waste time, money, and resources, yet healthcare environments cling to the status quo because it's what they know.

Let's be honest: learning a new process — even when it's an improvement — feels daunting.

In an industry hungry for better outcomes and streamlined processes, the paper fax survives because the devil we know is better than the devil we don't. But providers can no longer afford to allow subpar workflows to characterize care coordination, especially when:

• Fax failure rates in the 30 percent range¹ are not uncommon in today's healthcare organizations.

• Duplication of faxes often results in duplication of ordered tests.

• Industry research reveals that 40 percent² of healthcare workers admit to accidentally reading a paper fax intended for someone else.

• Paper-based fax limits real-time access to patient information at the point of care.

While the healthcare industry processes a whopping 15 billion³ fax transactions each year, the reality is that change looms on the horizon. The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have aligned efforts to replace the use of fax machines by 2020. Ready or not, digital health information continues to forge ahead.

So, if the change is imminent, how can your organization accommodate the shift to the digital transmission of patient data?

The healthcare industry's implementation graveyard is crowded with IT ideas that didn't survive due to a lack of buy-in and strategy. That's why you need a forward-looking partner who understands the challenges and opportunities of shifting to digital fax workflows.

In short, you need a partner who understands that the growth inherent in improved communication outweighs the pain of change.

We have identified challenges and opportunities across three pillars of your organization, and we're prepared to help you transform your information. We want to introduce you to new habits in fax communication related to workflow, data governance and information exchange. Then we want to help you replace bad habits associated with traditional fax.

If change is a foregone conclusion, take steps now to advance your organization's communication ecosystem. Partner with Ricoh to embrace the kind of change that will improve the lives of your staff, your community partners, and your patients.