How to Fax Radiology Reports — Secure & Compliant
Radiology reports move constantly between imaging centers, ordering physicians, insurers, and patients, and fax remains the channel that every party can receive regardless of which EHR or PACS they run. Because a radiology report carries the patient's name, the study findings, and the interpreting radiologist's read, it's protected health information, so the transmission has to be encrypted and covered by a Business Associate Agreement. Send FAX Mail handles that under its Business plan and keeps a delivery confirmation for each report, which is the disclosure record a practice needs if a referring provider says the read never arrived.
How to Fax a Radiology Reports
- 1Prepare the Radiology Reports document as a clear, legible PDF
- 2Verify the recipient's fax number from an official directory or by calling to confirm
- 3Log in to Send FAX Mail on your browser or mobile device
- 4Upload the document and enter the recipient's fax number
- 5Add a HIPAA-compliant confidentiality cover sheet
- 6Send and save the delivery confirmation for your records
Document Format
Ensure all patient identifiers, provider information, and relevant clinical data are clearly legible. Use high-contrast black text on white background. Include page numbers on multi-page documents. PDF format provides the best fax transmission quality.
Legal Considerations
These documents contain protected health information under HIPAA, requiring encrypted transmission through a compliant fax service with a signed Business Associate Agreement. Retain transmission records as documentation of disclosure. Verify the receiving fax number is correct before transmitting any PHI.
Industries That Fax This Document
What’s current · as of August 2026
- HIPAA large-breach reporting threshold
- 500+ individuals — reported to HHS OCR without unreasonable delay Source: HHS Office for Civil Rights
- HIPAA documentation retention period
- 6 years from creation or last-effective date Source: HHS — HIPAA Administrative Requirements (45 CFR 164.316)
Recent updates
Federal interoperability rules keep pushing healthcare past the fax machine
CMS has advanced a series of interoperability rules that press hospitals, payers, and providers toward electronic data exchange and standardized claims attachments. The direction of travel is clear: paper and analog fax workflows are being replaced by digital transmission that carries an auditable record — which is exactly what a cloud fax with delivery confirmation provides for offices not yet on a full EHR pipeline.
CMS →Healthcare breach reporting keeps document handling under scrutiny
Ongoing reporting on HIPAA breaches and OCR settlements underscores how much scrutiny falls on how medical documents are stored, sent, and received. Sending records through a controlled, access-logged channel rather than an unmanaged machine reduces the mishandling risks that show up repeatedly in breach analyses.
HIPAA Journal →HHS OCR continues enforcing HIPAA safeguards on how PHI is transmitted
The HHS Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Security Rule's requirement that covered entities apply administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to protected health information in transit. Faxing PHI is permitted, but the sending practice is responsible for confirming the destination and controlling access — the reason healthcare senders favor a channel that logs each transmission and its recipient.
HHS Office for Civil Rights →
Faxing a Radiology Reports — FAQ
It is when you use a fax service that signs a Business Associate Agreement and encrypts the transmission. The Business plan at $79.99 a month includes the BAA and AES-256 encryption for documents carrying PHI. Always confirm the receiving fax number is correct before a report goes out.
Pull up the delivery confirmation, which records the exact timestamp the recipient's fax line accepted the report. Share that with the physician's office, and double-check that the number you sent to matches their current direct line. A surprising number of missed reads trace back to an outdated fax number.
Yes. The iOS and Android apps let you upload or photograph a report and fax it from anywhere, with the delivery confirmation arriving in your email. That's handy when a referring office calls asking for a copy and you're away from the workstation.
Because reports contain PHI, you'll want a HIPAA plan with the BAA included, which starts at the Professional plan at $39.99 a month for 2,000 pages and steps up to the Business plan at $79.99 a month for 5,000 pages at higher imaging volume. A practice that outgrows its allowance moves up a plan rather than paying per page, and you can pick your fax number at no charge.
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