Fax has been widely used in the medical industry and an efficient medical fax cover sheet is beneficial to protect patients’ privacy. Medical fax cover sheet templates will be provided in this article below and can be downloaded for free.
Why a Medical Fax Cover Sheet is So Important?
A cover sheet should and can be added to the fax because it clearly tells the fax from other faxes that arrive at the same fax machine. When it comes to medical issues, a fax cover sheet is especially important.
Protect patients’ privacy
Based on HIPAA Privacy Rule, a major goal of Privacy Rule is to ensure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high-quality health care and to protect the public’s health and well-being.
Therefore, adding a cover sheet to medical fax helps to ensure it’s compatible with the principles regulated by the federal Health Insurance Portability Act. The information that should be protected includes:
- Name
- Address
- Any dates that are directly related to an individual
- Telephone number
- Fax number
- Email address
- Social security number
- Medical record number
- Health plan beneficiary number
- Account number
- Certificate/license number
- Vehicle identifiers, serial numbers, or license plate numbers
- Device identifiers or serial numbers
- Web URLs
- IP address
- Biometric identifiers such as fingerprints or voiceprints
- Full-face photos
- Any other unique identifying numbers, characteristics, or codes
Return to authority
The other reason why a medical fax cover sheet is important lies in the indication of the sender’s information. If the medical fax is sent by error, the receiver will instantly know where the fax file should be returned to and it’s beneficial to protect the patient’s privacy.
What Information Should be Included in a Medical Fax Cover Sheet?
A medical fax cover sheet should include the following information:
- Information about the sender, like name, address, phone number, email, fax number, etc.
- Information about the receiver, like name, address, phone number, email, fax number, etc.
- Fax date
- Fax page count
- Comments
- Confidentiality notice (Important)
Most of the information that should be included in the medical fax cover sheet is the same as that in an ordinary fax cover sheet but the confidentiality notice that indicates the sensitivity and security of medical fax cover sheets.
No rigorous confidentiality notice is set in a medical fax cover sheet but a sample below from HIPAA may give you some hints:
IMPORTANT: This facsimile transmission contains confidential information, some or all of which may be protected health information as defined by the federal Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. This transmission is intended for the exclusive use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is proprietary, privileged, confidential, and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law.
If you are not the intended recipient (or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this facsimile transmission to the intended recipient), you are hereby notified that any disclosure, dissemination, distribution or copying of this information is strictly prohibited and may be subject to legal restriction or sanction. Please notify the sender by telephone (number listed above) to arrange the return or destruction of the information and all copies.
Where to Download Medical Fax Cover Sheet Templates?
To download a medical fax cover sheet template, multiple sources are available.
Microsoft word fax cover sheet templates
You’re allowed to download medical fax cover sheet templates from Microsoft word. While editing the files to be faxed out, you should first add the cover sheet to the file as a cover.
No need to download, directly use a fax cover sheet from online fax
In terms of online fax services, things will be easier when it comes to fax cover sheets. Before sending a fax from an online fax app, a cover sheet is allowed to be prepared on the app and what you need to do is to fill in the necessary information on the cover page. There’s no need to download any fax cover sheet from any source.
Bottom Line
- A cover sheet plays an extremely important role in protecting users’ privacy in medical fax.
- All necessary information should be included in the medical fax cover sheet.
- Multiple sources can be found to download fax cover sheet templates and the online fax app provides the best convenience to users.