Faxed Reports

You mean from one unit to another? Do a search, I seem to recall there being a thread about this a short time ago.

And :groupwelcome:

Thanks a bunch Tazzi. I am talking about from the ER onto tele and med/surg floors. I did find a posting about it but it never mentioned the legality of it all.

They do that in my facility too. I guess as much as there is the possibility of the information getting to the wrong place and the confidentiality issue they probly shouldnt be faxed.

I just read this - according to HIPAA, it's legal as long as the intended recipient is authorized to see the information (so yes from ER to the floor would be OK) and it is accompanied by a cover sheet that says the information is confidential and if you are not the intended recepient then you should contact the sender and destroy the document. Yeah, right.

But yes, it's legal.

We started doing faxed reports (ER to my tele unit) several months ago. I've gotten used to it and pretty much it tells all that I need to know. Of course I can always call down to ER to ask a question or two.

I believe that whatever protocol your facility has for reports from ER to CCU, they all need to be the same. Meaning either everyone does verbals or everyone does faxes.