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Fax cover sheet - missing HIPAA notice

Yikes - just realized the Fax Cover Sheet does not contain the federally-mandated HIPAA privacy language that all offices are required to have on any faxed document transmitting protected health information (PHI). This is a major liability and oversight on your part.

https://concord.net/hipaa-compliant-fax-cover-sheet/

Whether you’re new to the world of HIPAA fax regulations, or you’ve just never thought about this question, remembering to always include a cover sheet is easier if you’re aware of how important this step is. Simply put, there are three primary reasons why a cover sheet is important for HIPAA compliant faxing:

Protecting the fax document from view
Providing contact info in case of an incorrect recipient
Displaying the HIPAA disclaimer upfront

The first of these reasons is arguably the most important: When you send a fax containing PHI to a business or individual your organization doesn’t have a close relationship with, you have no way of knowing how that document will be received or who will be receiving it. If the recipient’s documents are received by a traditional fax machine, a cover sheet keeps PHI protected from view when that fax lands in the document tray. Even if the fax recipient is utilizing a service that delivers fax via email, it’s still possible that it will land in an inbox that multiple users have access to. If the wrong user opens the fax attachment, the cover sheet will still be the first thing they see, protecting the info in the fax itself.

The second reason a cover sheet is important to HIPAA compliant faxing is that it provides contact info for the sender. If a fax is erroneously delivered to an organization it was never intended for, the cover sheet clearly displays who sent the document and how to reach them.

Finally, including the HIPAA fax disclaimer will also be important should the fax be mistakenly delivered to someone other than the intended recipient. The HIPAA fax disclaimer directly notifies the recipient that reviewing, disclosing and distributing the information in the document are prohibited. For your organization’s own liability risks, this statement should never be left off your cover sheet.

A sample of this language is here:

THE PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION (PHI) CONTAINED IN THIS FAX IS HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL. IT IS INTENDED FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF THE ADDRESSEE. IT IS TO BE USED ONLY TO AID IN PROVIDING SPECIFIC HEALTH CARE SERVICES TO THIS PATIENT. ANY OTHER USE IS A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW (HIPAA) AND WILL BE REPORTED AS SUCH. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS FAX IN ERROR, PLEASE DESTROY IT AND CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY.

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  • AdminMary Anderson (Admin, Weave) commented  ·   ·  Report

    *What department are you in? * Support

    *Which Feature does this pertain to? * Fax

    *What area of the Feature? * Optional Memo Field

    *What pain points/suggestions does the office have?
    * Office want to be able to include a template they can place in the memo portion of the coversheet that includes a HIPPA compliant announcement along the lines of "this is a communication to so-and-so from lacation name, if you are not the intended party...etc. They have been typing this all out and are wondering if they could have this optionbe available to be the default entry within the memo on their coversheets.

  • Abbey commented  ·   ·  Report

    Right now I have the staff manually adding this to all the faxes and is a HIPPA REQUIREMENT when sending faxes. I'd like to see that the ability to add a permanent memo is added asap.

  • Cathy Brafford commented  ·   ·  Report

    Your fax feature needs to have a confidential health information statement added. Such as...This documents accompanying this transmission confidential health information that is legally provided. This information is intended only for the use of individual or entity named above.....etc

  • Jeffrey commented  ·   ·  Report

    For the FAX cover sheet, there should be the ability to put a HIPAA confidentiality notice, so that it does not have to be manually pasted into the memo box each time. All doctor offices must have such notices on all FAX cover sheets to be HIPAA compliant.

  • Dr Cory Steed commented  ·   ·  Report

    Be able to customize fax coversheet. Also, be able to store commonly used fax numbers

  • Judit Calvert commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hello, I am reaching out since I noticed that the Weave fax cover page does not have a HIPAA disclosure on it. This means if we fax to the wrong number there is nothing stating not to go through the document if it doesn't regard them.

  • Nikki commented  ·   ·  Report

    I need to add a HIPAA disclaimer to the fax cover sheet. Please add this function to add some verbiage to the sheet without having to manually do it each time. Thanks

  • Joy Deckard commented  ·   ·  Report

    Is there anyway Weave can put the disclaimer into the memo each time a new fax is created? It seems if Weave is claiming HIPAA compliancy, they should provide the disclaimer as part of the creation with every new fax.

  • Jenna McDermed commented  ·   ·  Report

    Our HIPAA compliance company has requested that we begin including the following message on all fax cover forms:

    CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This facsimile is intended only for the use of the
    named addressee and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. If
    you are not the intended recipient, or you are not the employee responsible for
    delivering the facsimile for the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any
    dissemination, distribution or copying of this facsimile is strictly prohibited. If you
    have received this facsimile in error, please notify the sender immediately.

    As these HIPAA rules would be true for all of your clients, we are requesting this to auto-generate on all fax cover letters. Thank you!

  • William Stephen commented  ·   ·  Report

    Agreed, we are currently copy and pasting a HIPAA disclaimer onto every cover sheet. It would be awesome to be able to make a default cover sheet that included the info that we need to stay HIPAA compliant

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    In order to be Hippa compliant with our faxing, we need to include a disclaimer on the fax cover sheet. We actually have our own Fax cover sheet PDF file that includes our own graphics and the disclaimer. I want to be able to incorporate this into the generic fax sheet that currently exists. Who can I speak to about making this happen?
    I don't want us to have to attach this PDF file every time we send a fax, as we have 5 locations and staff will forget to include it. I need it implemented into the one that currently exists, so we can be Hippa compliant. There is urgency to this as we are working with a Hippa compliance company and need to have everything in order. Thank you

  • Jen Cunningham commented  ·   ·  Report

    It would be GREAT to add the ability to have a customized HIPAA-compliant fax cover sheet that we can toggle on (vs. having to hand-write a HIPAA-compliant cover sheet to include or having to customize the current cover sheet for every single fax). We are a doctor's office, and fax a great deal of Patient Health Info -- so we are required to have a HIPAA cover sheet. Thanks so much for considering! ;-)

  • erica dunn commented  ·   ·  Report

    There needs to be a way that a confidentiality statement per HIPAA guidelines can be attached to all fax cover sheets permanently. Please update me when this feature will be available. Thank you.

  • Becca commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hi I would like to have a custom memo attached to fax cover sheet as standardized.

    "The documents transmitted by this facsimile may contain confidential and privileged information. This information is intended for the use of the addressee named on this transmittal sheet. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, photocopying, or use of its contents is prohibited. If you have received this facsimile in error, please call us immediately so that we can arrange to retrieve the original documents. Thank you."

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Could we please have access to edit a more extensive coversheet?

    E.g. could we have access to add basic info we want on every coversheet. E.g. Company Name, Fax Number, etc.

    The fax "coversheet" in weave is insufficient and we often have to upload our own in order to have the info we need in there.

  • Tina Holtzman commented  ·   ·  Report

    Fax cover sheet template with the ability to save a Hipaa notice at the bottom.

    EX. This fax, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
    confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is
    prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by phone, at 312-549-8691,
    or return e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

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