Faxing has been around for decades; however, it could be reaching the end of use in the healthcare industry. Faxing is perceived to be safe. This is partly due to how old it is. Faxing uses a phone line to send its information. However, this means it could be tapped and then all of the information that was sent would have been accessed by unwanted parties. So what is the answer for this?

Recently, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the Direct Standard. Direct Standard at its core is direct secure messaging. This new standard allows for health data to be sent digitally. The health data that will be sent will be authenticated and encrypted and goes to verified users. Now that this standard has been approved by ANSI, how can healthcare providers take advantage of this?

Konica Minolta has answers. Konica Minolta has the Healthcare Multifunction Printer, which is a five function printer. The five functions are copy, scan, print, fax and exchange. Exchange is a must for secure exchange of patient information. An example for this is a hospital discharging a patient to a long-term care provider. While the hospital has the ability to use Direct Messaging, the long-term care provider does not. This means the hospital has to use fax, which is not as safe and can cause delays.