Bill,
We use it as out incoming Fax machine. Our old fax number is forwarded to the toll free number UpDox supplies.
UpDox allows a color flag to be set for each incoming Fax. We have a staff member who reviews incoming faxes, and sets the flag appropriately, then each user filters for his/her flag. There are now other ways of doing this, I think, but this works easily for us. That is the equivalent of the old way where the staff member took the incoming faxes and put them in the proper inbox.
The providers check the incoming faxes, and import them into the proper chart and sign them off (assuming they are patient data). If they are something like lab or x-ray, a copy is sent to the patient portal at the same time, along with a brief note.
The UpDox print interface is used to send notes and copies of labs to the patient portal. We import labs from Quest. I then pull the lab, review it, send a copy and comment to the patient portal, and sign it off.
For reasons related to Alaska phone systems we are not much using UpDox for outgoing faxes, preferring to use either a plain old fax machine or a network fax printer, but sending outgoing faxes is clearly an option.
We are sending forms to patients for pre-registration via the portal.
There are several other features that we are not currently using, but this is our approach.
