Home Forums Help me manage my faxes... sign/date, speed, office flow

Thanks everyone, especially Bert (so happy you are still here!)!

On the board and others advise, got a Samsung SCX-4835FR. Did this due to the low cost, high volume that would make online programs such as updox expensive. It does convert to PDF on arrival and now I am trying to figure out how to manage these the easiest and fastest (for me, the physician and my partners more so, but the staff also).

I want the process to involve the least amount of work and clicks to keep it as simple as possible. Also don't want a real expensive solution.

1) Outside Labs/xrays/notes/consults. (not Quest/labcorp, trying to get them to hook me up directly) Seems best to have the staff add them to the patient, place in our boxes to be reviewed and just sign them with AC and can add remarks and than it is completed. However, these won't be added to the labs and just be on the side.

2) Items that need to be sent back after review, which may or may not need to be marked up, but definitely need to be signed....

-Better in a seperate folder outside ac to review and then finalized and placed without additional signature into ac?
- Better placed into the patient in AC and worked on there with a PDF program?

3) Any program to mark up, sign and date with (anything free)?

4) Anything I am missing?

Thanks alot

Each one does it differently on this board
1. All my faxes that come in via my Samsung SCX are put in a SHARED folder on my SERVER called INCOMING FAXES.
2. On the same shared folder there are folders for DR, MA's,Labs,Consults etc....
3.The INCOMING FAXES are checked and distributed to either the Dr or the MA in my situation
4.Once the DR (me) or the MA deals with the faxes they are signed/stamped and filed in respective folders for labs, consults, ER, hospital discharges...as many folders you need.
5 The above folders are all outside AC and shared across my office network
6. In my case I use Adobe as I tried paperport and found it too slow .
I find this works extremely well for me.
Grenville

Sorry to bump this back up. I think your process sounds good. Just not so excited about using adobe and paying for 4 licenses almost what I pay for ac! Love to know what everyone else is doing.

I use Paperport, free with my Brother MFC. It definitely is not perfect but, hey, it was free.

I use Updox and I like it very much. It is easy to use and intuitive. You can give up a fax line because it is over the internet. Thus you can use it from home or anywhere else you want to. It is definitely not free. They charge by the "faxpack" (500 faxes both in and out) and by the user. I end up spending about $75/month for just my solo practice. I was able to give up a $40/month faxline so it works out to about $35/month. There are probably cheaper ways to go but this works extremely well for me. They also have a patient portal that I have not yet utilized that is part of the deal. I used to use Paperport ala Leslie but I like this better, though it is more expensive.

I do continue to hear about UpDox. It sounds perfect. I remember looking at it seven years ago, when it was in its infancy. Even had the owner visit our offices and demo it.

First, just in case you aren't aware, an Adobe license allows two installations. Just remember to inactivate it before removing it from a PC. Adobe, while ridiculously overpriced, still has the most features but, like Word, you only use maybe 2%. There are literally hundreds of PDF programs out there such as Nitro, etc. I am sure there are some you would like.

As far as a solution, IF you are going to use a complete standalone solution like Glenville, then I don't understand why more people don't take advantage of F.A.P. (But, in your case it wouldn't work, because it only works well with one doctor). The developer was writing a whole new program, which was looking very good, and was also made for a multiple physician practice; but he actually lost the program.

While updox sounds great, it is very cost prohibitive for a large practice with many faxes per day.

My fax server imports as a pdf easily and can sign into the charts what is imported. However, still with difficulties with the ones that need to be sent back...

There are many pdf programs...went through some, wasted lots of time and still haven't found a good cost effective one that I can sign/date and send it back to my staff.

Don't have a brother and hence no paperport...

Take a look at PDF Pro 10.- www.PDFPro10.com
It might help you with what you are looking for.
Grenville

Not the most efficient way, but we have all of our faxes come in as PDF files into an "incoming fax" folder at one of our 2 front computer stations. (We don't print hard copies of any faxes). That person's responsibility, among others, is simply to review and route (drag and drop) those pdf's into the appropriate patient chart, which then show up in whichever doc's inbox they belong to. It's a little labor intensive but it works, once the staff are trained how to label the files and which folders to put them in.

Since we have most of our pharmacies going 2-way eprescribing now, it has cut down a lot on our incoming faxes.

The issue I see in NOT using something like UpDox is that the faxes are otherwise essentially dropped into the electronic equivalent of a big cardboard box with little organization unless you pay someone to make new folders and sort things after receipt. For lots of things that's ok... orders you have acted on, refills ok'd, etc.... but consults, lab and x-ray really need to be organized. UpDox does that all in one step.

Yes, the money to UpDox is real, but so are the wages we pay to a person who is currently scanning old charts and/or my lost time. She will go away when that task is done, but would not if we had to keep doing a lot of fax organizing. Not to sound blind to economics, but I have found over the years it is too easy to be penny wise and pound foolish. I am much better off paying UpDox a couple of hundred a month than an employee $12.00 per hour, or using my time that can generate hundreds of dollars an hour.