Fax. Just reading the word might trigger visions of clunky machines, screeching tones, and jammed paper. But in the age of AI, cloud storage, and instant messaging, fax refuses to die—especially in the medical field.

It’s easy to write off faxing as outdated. Yet across hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and insurance providers, fax is not just surviving—it’s thriving. In fact, a 2024 report by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) showed that nearly 70% of healthcare providers still rely on fax to transmit patient information. And there’s a good reason.

This article explores why fax continues to dominate medical communication, how it’s adapting to modern systems like GoHighLevel, and what this means for health tech and patient care.

Why Is Fax Still Alive in Healthcare?

1. HIPAA Compliance and Legal Safeguards

The biggest reason fax hasn’t been phased out in healthcare? Compliance.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that any method of transmitting Protected Health Information (PHI) must ensure security and privacy. Traditional email, SMS, and many online tools often fall short of this unless encrypted and verified.

Faxing—especially through secure, encrypted eFax solutions—meets HIPAA requirements because:

• It sends data point-to-point, not through open internet channels.
• It doesn’t sit on third-party servers indefinitely.
• It provides delivery confirmations and audit trails.

For healthcare professionals, this makes fax a legally safe choice in a litigious, compliance-heavy environment.

2. Interoperability Gaps in Health Tech

Despite billions invested in Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), many providers still can’t seamlessly communicate with each other digitally. Not all systems talk to each other. And when they do, they often speak different data “languages.”

Fax cuts through this by offering a universal bridge between incompatible systems. A rural doctor’s office with minimal tech can still send a specialist referral to a major urban hospital using fax—and both parties will receive the same document.

3. No Learning Curve, No Downtime

Everyone knows how to send a fax. There’s no login screen, no new UI, no need to teach staff a new app. This simplicity means:

• Fewer errors

• Minimal training

• Instant scalability

And now, with digital fax integrations, the process is even easier.

The Rise of eFax and Cloud-Based Faxing

Today’s faxing doesn’t require a physical machine. eFax platforms like RingCentral, SRFax, and MyFax allow users to:

• Send/receive faxes from email or desktop apps
• Integrate faxes into cloud storage
• Automate workflows (e.g., auto-forwarding to EMRs)

This shift has brought fax into the cloud-based software age, and CRM integrations are the next logical step.

Fax + GoHighLevel CRM: A Game-Changer for Healthcare Teams

GoHighLevel (GHL) is one of the most powerful all-in-one platforms for client communication, CRM, marketing automation, and workflow management. While GHL was originally built for agencies and service providers, it has rapidly become popular among healthcare marketers and operations teams.

Here’s how fax can be integrated with GoHighLevel:

1. Using Zapier or Make (Integromat) to Connect eFax and GoHighLevel

Many eFax solutions have Zapier or webhook support, meaning they can trigger automations inside GoHighLevel. For example:

• A new incoming fax triggers a GHL contact update

• Outgoing faxes are logged in the GHL conversation history

• A faxed referral form triggers a pipeline stage update in your CRM

Example Use Case:
 A clinic receives a patient referral via eFax. That fax triggers a Zap that creates or updates the patient record in GoHighLevel, notifies staff in real time, and launches an onboarding workflow for that patient.

2. Auto-Saving Faxes to Contact Records

GoHighLevel’s custom fields and workflows can be paired by a GHL expert with Google Drive or Dropbox (via Zapier), where eFaxes are stored. You can then link those documents directly to the contact’s profile inside GHL.

This means your team can:

• View faxes right from within a contact record
• Track when a fax was received/sent
• Assign follow-ups without ever leaving the GHL dashboard

3. HIPAA-Compliant Faxing with CRM Traceability

For providers using GoHighLevel HIPAA mode (available in agency accounts), fax integrations can still meet compliance when using verified, encrypted eFax providers.

The benefit? You can combine fax traceability (who sent/received what and when) with GHL’s pipeline automations and task assignments.

Now, fax isn’t just a static document—it’s a trigger for an entire patient workflow.

When Does Fax Integration with GHL Make Sense?

Faxing might not be necessary for every business using GoHighLevel. But for medical offices, mental health practitioners, chiropractic clinics, med spas, and even telehealth services, fax is often still a key method of communication with:

• Referring physicians
• Insurance companies
• Pharmacies
• Labs and diagnostic imaging providers

Combining fax capabilities with a dynamic CRM like GHL means:

• No manual data entry

• Better visibility

• Streamlined compliance workflows

• Patient journeys that start the moment a fax arrives

The Future: Will Fax Eventually Die?

Fax has been “on the verge of extinction” for two decades now. But in healthcare, change is slow, especially when regulations, privacy, and cross-system compatibility are involved.

What we’re seeing instead is evolution, not extinction:

• Physical fax machines are disappearing
• eFax and cloud faxing are replacing them
• Integration with CRMs like GoHighLevel is bridging the old and new worlds

And until EHRs and HIEs achieve total, nationwide interoperability (which may take another decade or more), fax will likely remain a compliance-friendly fallback and inter-system translator.

Final Thoughts: Embrace the Old to Power the New

In a world of cutting-edge AI, automation, and real-time messaging, it’s easy to dismiss fax as a relic. But in healthcare, faxing continues to serve a crucial purpose—and it’s becoming more useful than ever thanks to tools like GoHighLevel.

By integrating fax with CRMs, clinics and medical teams can:

• Maintain compliance
• Reduce administrative errors
• Speed up patient intake and referral workflows
• Unlock a 360° view of all communications

Whether you’re running a private practice, a med spa, or a multi-location clinic, the message is clear:

Don’t kill your fax machine just yet. Upgrade it. Sync it. Automate it. And let GoHighLevel do the heavy lifting.