Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Recieving Faxes

We would like to start given Staples a break (we actually need to)with the paper and toner supplies, and would like to get ideas on how to get the faxes directly into the computer.
Any experiences with Updox? Paperport? Omnipage? efax?
Any ideas will be very much appreciated.

Romel,

We need more information. All of the products you mention above are software to manipulate the data once it is on the PC. None of those things will get the fax to your PC desktop.

For that, you will need a fax machine that has PC to fax and Fax to PC capability -- preferably networkable. Some fax machines can do this and some can't.

Bert,
You mentioned one that you and Adam are using (A fax or AIO) that does PC faxing. Could you give us more details on that and why you picked that one for your office? What formats are the efaxes in and finally go into detail on your file system here? Thanks....

Sure, glad to.

Adam and I can't really do anything without the other one doing it. He started using a Muratec,which is a fairly high-end scanner, fax machine and copier. It can duplex print, but it isn't fast enough so we both have a 4 series HP Laser print.

The Muratec is capable of PC to Fax and Fax to PC as well as sending faxes by emails, etc. It can Internet to Internet fax, which is the wave of the future, but it can only Internet to Internet if the recipeint can do same.

He has his staff drag and drop files into ImportedItems while I use File Assistant Pro, a system I find to be much better and faster than UpDox or other methods of digital fax management.

FAP and VIPER and other software is available from our website, our name to be kept secret for now, because we haven't finalized out activation method yet. We do have it, though.

Hopefully, I can demo these applications at ACUC as in some ways it is easier that way.

Thanks Bert,
But what format are the faxes in, PDF, Word some other bizzare fax format or what. I'm especially wanting to know about the incoming ones obviously for our own filing. As long as the outgoing ones send traditional fax format so others can reciece them as they normally do, than that is fine by me.

Bert, I just pinged AC tech about a lab import issue and they say they are getting slammed there in RI... How about you in Maine??? Finally getting a taste of the Great Lakes today? We are actually getting less than most of you east coasters because it is a coastal storm. I'm about to PM you too....

Oh and will the out going ones allow us to add those silly signatures to the Rx's for these pain in the neck Rite-Aid @$$holes???

You can set the incoming to PDF or TIFF or TIFF-S. We usually use PDF since we feel more comfortable working with them.

As outgoing, you can use Adobe to sign them, but it is a long workaround printing to PDF and then signing them.

We are supposed to be on the Lunatic Fringe of the storm.

Bert:

Thanks for your Reply.

Honestly I don't know if my All in one HP Fax machine could get those faxes digitalized in the computer (FAX to PC). After that you said, I can chose any of the other programs to digitally do the flow of the document right?

As per PC to fax, We have no problem. We print to the Fax and the Fax Software opens, then we chose from a phonebook, mostly pharmacies, and send it. By the way, We have have little problems with the pharmacies around here, including Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid with our faxed prescriptions, even if they are sent by our office manganer (w/o a doc electronic signature.)I hope Paul does get jealous.LOL.

Currently, I am going over Updox to see if it can fit our needs.
I will share my findings in the following weeks.

If you can print to the fax software (and it is part of your fax machine), then you can probably Fax to PC. Almost none only work one way. Go to the website and look at the info. It should be there. Are you able to see your fax settings using your browser. That's one of the nice features of a networked fax.

We have little problem with signatures either. Just to be sure, I changed all users to my name and just gave them their username and password. So, their names still come up in the dropdown list, while my signature shows up everywhere. It's a nice workaround, but you lose the usernames inside the messages. Small price to pay for having my name there.

UpDox is pretty cool. And, Andrew Barbarsh, CEO, is extremely accessible. You can email him. I am sure he would call you at midnight if necessary. He is incredible.

FAP is also still an option if you're interested.

Bert and others,
Almost none of the modest, office store available HP AIO's allow for Fax to PC which is why I started asking these questions. It is pretty sad when one buys a $400 machine and it still can not multi-task (It can do one of 4 things but only one at a time) or do the very important 5th thing of Fax to PC. This is why I would love to know what others out there are doing to solve this issue short of scanning in the faxes and then shreading all these trees. Anybody else out there have good solutions? Thanks much....

I use a networked fax and send almost all prescriptions from a wireless tablet while with the patient.
Staples refurbished for $149

Brother 7820N

I think Fax to PC is so helpful and saves so much money in the long run that it makes sense to bite the bullet and purchase a networked fax machine that does all it needs to do. I am somewhat happy with ours, because it does three of the four things fairly well. But, still, I would grade it:

Faxing 8/10
Scanning 6/10
Copying 6/10
Printing 4/10

We have many printers, but if I were in the market, I would rather have one fast black and white or color HP LaserJet networked printer, one good scanner, a good copier and a good fax machine. Or at least, two or three combinations.

GAMA
Here's an interesting snapshot from my practice.
I USED to spend over $250/month on paper, $100/month on fax/scanner/copier lease, $120-240/month on toner/drum fees, not to mention hundred of dollars in staff time tracking all the paper and dealing w/ it.
Now I only pay $100/month on my lease, and less than $20/month on paper. The toner fee has also reduced by 10-fold. Just about the only thing we print anymore is our encounter forms.

Since you save dramatic amounts of money in just 1-2 months, IT WILL PAY FOR THE EXPENSE OF A REALLY GOOD ALL IN ONE.

As Bert mentioned, I use Muratec Model 1430 NETWORKED fax/printer/scanner.

It's worth the investment. I'm leasing mine because it comes w/ a service contract and the vendor comes in monthly to clean and repair. Well worth it!

I also have Updox, however I have not had time to learn to use it. I purchased subscription to it ($30) because if you are a Updox user you get a discount from Onebox (which I use for my paging service). Original cost of Onebox is $50/month, however w/ discount it is $30/month. So I spent $30/year for Updox, in order to save $20/month off Onebox.

Dr. Barbash of Updox came to my office in Maine when he was vacationing and gave me personal demos of both systems. He is very nice guy, and we email occasionally. Bert was w/ us for the demo and actually helped arrange it.

some posters know the MS Onenote developer, and some of us know the Updox developer.

I highly recommend Onebox for your paging system. It's saving me hundreds per month (yes HUNDREDS). I was spending $200-250/month on paging company, now I'm spending $30/month on paging system and guess what??? NO PAGER......Just a cell phone.

Adam,

So, let me see. If I do the math correctly, you could say that by purchasing Updox, you save $210 per year.

12 x 20 = 240 - 30 = $210 PLUS you get UpDox!

EXACTLY BERT.
I save $210/year (just in subscription fee alone, plus I get Updox).
That's what they call a "No Brainer."

Bert (making this sound like a commercial):

That sounds great! How can I get this UpDox and OneBox?

Well I'm glad someone finally asked.
Go to Onebox.com
Go to Updox.com

Bert, are you ready yet for Onebox?

Why don't they just combine the site to:

OneUpU.com

I am getting closer. Doing some research on the other end.

We really are getting an inflated post count. Oh well, this may help someone, right?

Bert, this is my 100th post.
Do I get a Happy 100th Post present?
I know it's small potatoes to a "1,000 Post Clubber" like yourself. But I've come a long way in 2 months, right?

I just noticed that. And, for some reason, there is quite the lag as your posts above say 100.

But, you are still on 99 as the PIP squad is deleting your last five posts.

Post Inflation Police

Oh phooey.

Do you like my math? 100 posts minus 5 posts = 99.

I had received faxes to my computer for some time, but then I went back to regular faxing. Why? Because it was more time consuming FOR ME. I agree, we can save money on paper, toner, etc, and it may be even easier for nurses, but FOR ME is was more time consuming to received/read/forward/etc electronic faxes, rather than to initial a paper fax and put it to the out box for the nurse to notify the patient and to scan it to the patient's chart.

I am still trying to make that move from paper based faxing to PC based.

So we have a setup that the PC takes the fax IN first and we have an actual Fax machine that is a backup(incase the PC is down). We use Winfax as incoming fax.

For outgoing the staff uses regualr fax, but the physicians use winfax and they queue up all the faxes for the day, and then it goes out in the evening at 8:00 pmm when other places the fax machine is less busy.

I have downloaded updox and played around, just need to make the staff get used to it. Looks like a nice stuff.

Nephron,

Sounds good. A little complicated for me, but just as in Apricot's case, if it works for you. What about scripts? Do you print out and then have the MA or someone fax them? After awhile your MAs will practically refuse to call in a script, because they can fax it to the pharmacy from PC. I know I will get a page when at Dunkin' Donuts on Saturday and won't call in the script until I can fax it in thirty minutes later at the office. I just despise calling them in. But, that's I.

I agree it's good to have backup if PC is down. I am lucky, because the Muratec will accept faxes by paper if it can't send them to the desktop. I do wish that UpDox was a bit less cartoon like....

I think it's funny that more doctors will agree on how to work up the first UTI in an 18 month old girl than how to do faxing, lol.

Nephron, do you have a name you can use as a signature? It's easier to call people on here by their first names. Up to you, though.

My name is Srini Kandala(just updated the signature). I am the manager, janitor, bookkeeper, IT guy etc for my wife's Nephrology practice.

In my real life I am a software manager at a local startup.

It's funny that Bert used the UTI in an 18 m/o analogy. The cool thing about computer technology is that there are so many choices. In medicine, the reality is that there are often so few choices. When faced w/ 2 options, you get a lot of concesus. When faced w/ 15 choices, you get a lot of different preferences. We physicians are a different breed from most others.

Hi Srini,

Welcome to AC.

Srini,
Hi there and welcome aboard! Your tech prospective will be very appreciated around here. I too am my wife's PM (And Wayne is his sister's) who wears most of the hats you do although I don't have your knowledge or expertise in tech which I wish I did. Keep up the good work and thanks for pitching in.
Paul

Windows 2003 Server allows faxes to come into computer and also if you buy an internal fax modem, it comes with software to receive fax to your pc. If you don't have the server software, a fax modem is pretty cheap these days.

You are certainly correct Belkis. And, with SBS, it will even go to your Sharepoint. I imagine you can add that to 2003. I tried using that but had all sorts of problems with it using an external modem. I didn't have an extra PCI slot. I can't wait until all computers have one type of slow instead of PCI, PCI-e and PCI-x. But, I am sure it would work for everyone else -- I just had a difficult time with it.

Very good point, though. Thanks.

Hey, our main PC came with an internal modem, but it wasn't configured. When I go and try to configur it XP won't let me copy the files from the Windows CD.

Do you know the make and model of the modem? If not, and it isn't in the device manager, you can run Everest on the PC, and it will probably identify it. Is it just looking for a driver? If you know the manufacturer, they should supply a driver.

I haven't worked with modems since forever. But, I doubt the Windows CD will have the drivers for it, if that is what it is looking for.

Actually, if the modem and the driver disk both came from the OEM then I would say that there is a very good chance that they are there.

Hey, just a suggestion from a long ago simple problem. Is it turned on? as we would say in the theater or in TV. The internal network card on our main tower for years didn't work although until I needed it for high speed I wasn't all that concerned. Well it was as simple as that the stupid thing wasn't turned on inside the BIOS section so the machine never knew it had one to associate the drivers it did have. So once this nice guy and I from Gateway went into BIOS on a boot sequence, all was golden. I've been using the same card for years now, no problems. As an old tech I felt so embarressed, although the OEM never properly activated this part of the system that they built for me.

Sometimes it really is the simplest of things.

If it's on the CD, it should be on the OS unless XP decided not to install all the drivers. Not sure why you can't copy the files from the CD. Do you actually see the .inf files that it needs?

Would still go to the manufacturer's site and get the latest drivers.

I havent been able to make the time to call the new tech support for Gateway business, but I was going to ask them. Maybe after April 15th.