Faxing may seem like an outdated and inefficient practice—but however old-school it may seem, it is still a reliable form of communication that is prominent in many pharmacies, including long-term care (LTC) pharmacies. 

In fact, according to a survey by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), 89 percent of healthcare leaders say their organization still uses a fax machine. The same report revealed that pharmacy communication is one of the top five use cases for faxing in healthcare. However, despite the fact that faxing is still the norm in pharmacies, many prescribers have become opposed to faxing if e-prescribing (eRx) is their primary method for sending orders to LTC pharmacies due to the manual processes and inefficiencies that come with it. That’s when LTC pharmacy software comes into play.

Thanks to modern eRx capabilities, fax problems have become virtually nonexistent. Now, manually monitoring the fax machine, faxing order update forms, and hoping facility records reflect said changes are all processes of the past. Instead, pharmacy faxing can be made more convenient and reliable with the integration of fax platforms such as etherFAX and Faxcore. 

FrameworkECM, our automated workflow and electronic content management solution specifically designed to support long-term care pharmacies, fully integrates with etherFAX. a cloud-based carrier that provides highly secure, reliable fax communications. Read on to learn more about how integrating LTC pharmacy software with fax solutions can help you keep communication channels open and streamline processes.

Keeping All Communication Channels Open

Using LTC pharmacy software like FrameworkLTC and FrameworkECM, integrated with a fax solution like etherFAX, empowers pharmacies to improve communications by keeping the fax channel open, essentially providing an always-on fax experience for all incoming orders. This way, pharmacies can utilize a scalable and reliable network to send high volumes of prescription data with ease.

The result is better communication between LTC pharmacies and facilities and reduced risk of errors caused by manual and outdated workflows. You’ll never miss another fax, which is an obvious benefit because missed faxes can lead to delayed refills, gaps in care, and higher instances of medication nonadherence. Instead of manning the fax machine to watch for incoming orders, your LTC pharmacy staff can view, send, store, and retrieve faxed prescription orders—all with just the click of a button! 

Streamlining Processes to Work More Efficiently

Digital fax solutions integrated with FrameworkECM help to modernize faxing for pharmacies and streamline operations to work and fill orders with greater accuracy and efficiency. Seamless integration between LTC pharmacy software and fax solutions enables real-time, high-speed faxing, which eliminates the need to print and organize paperwork and streamlines paper-centric workflows from start to finish.  

With the ability to automate workflow steps, such as form creation for outgoing faxes, your LTC pharmacy staff can save countless hours of manual work, eliminating significant time and effort spent managing refill requests and following up on faxes. It also helps free up staff in facilities to spend more time focusing on delivering quality patient care, as opposed to manually calling and faxing in refill requests.

For example, integrating LTC pharmacy software with a fax solution allows pharmacy staff to add barcodes to faxed documents for easier and faster reconciliation when returned to the pharmacy. The alternative scenario is manually moving from fax to basket to production to scanner or filing cabinet—a slow, outdated process that can significantly impede pharmacy productivity. (No thank you!)

Along with enabling your LTC pharmacy staff to work more efficiently, integrated fax solutions also help to increase faxing speeds for nearly any fax server brand. Plus, you can completely put an end to common faxing mishaps that lead to delays, such as scrambled images, fax failures, or errors caused by content management complexities. But that’s not where the benefits end. 

Saving Money and Ensuring Regulatory Compliance

In addition to keeping communication channels open and streamlining pharmacy processes, integrated fax solutions can also help you reduce expenses by getting rid of paper, toner, and redundant fax machines and phone lines—not to mention the cost savings generated by saving valuable employee time! This makes LTC pharmacy software even more useful, increasing your return on investment (ROI) thanks to seamless integrations with virtually every application in use. 

Even compliance is made much easier thanks to extensive, paper-free audit trails and privacy controls to protect sensitive patient health information and abide by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. Plus, etherFAX’s patented fax technology provides end-to-end encryption using methods defined by the Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES) standard to subscribers through its application programming interfaces (APIs), ensuring 100 percent guaranteed secure document delivery.

In other words, you can enjoy all the security advantages that come with fax communications—without the inconvenience of needing paper, other costly supplies, or increased time and manual efforts by your LTC pharmacy staff.

Finding the Right Virtual Fax Solution for Your Pharmacy

As we mentioned above, FrameworkECM fully integrates with etherFAX through a direct API connection. Full integration ensures you can enjoy the full benefits we’ve outlined in this article for easy and efficient eRx faxing. 

There are also many other virtual fax services on the market today. For example, Faxcore is another faxing technology and service that LTC pharmacies can use to streamline and optimize their fax communications. It is important to note that although Faxcore does have a direct API integration with FrameworkECM, the integration requires pharmacies to purchase additional hardware such as a physical fax server. Any fax vendor outside of EtherFAX or Faxcore will have to be utilized through Fax by Email within FrameworkECM.

Curious about the operational and financial benefits of integrating your LTC pharmacy software with a virtual fax solution? Get in touch to find out more about how FrameworkECM integrates with etherFAX for smart, efficient eRx faxing between LTC pharmacies and facilities.