FaxToFax for Ontario healthcare and PHIPA

What PHIPA means for faxing

PHIPA governs how health information custodians in Ontario collect, use and disclose personal health information. Custodians must take reasonable steps to protect that information against theft, loss and unauthorised use or disclosure, and that includes information sent by fax. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario publishes guidance on faxing personal health information, so check its current guidance alongside your professional college's expectations.

Common fax risks in clinics are misdialled numbers, printouts left in shared trays and no record of who handled a document. FaxToFax is built to address those specific gaps. It provides safeguards built for PHIPA, but your clinic's own policies, training and decisions are still part of compliance.

Setting up a clinic account

1. Have the clinic manager or privacy lead create the account and act as owner.
2. Choose the Business plan, which includes five users, a shared inbox and 500 pages a month. Add users for $10 a month each.
3. Pick a local number in your area code so patients and other providers recognise it. Add extra numbers, for example one per location, for $5 the first month then $10 a month.
4. Invite staff and assign roles: owner, admin, member or viewer. Front-desk staff who only check incoming referrals may need viewer access.
5. Set the idle sign-out to 15 minutes on shared reception computers.
6. Create a referral cover page template with your logo and a confidentiality notice.
7. Set retention controls in line with your records policy.

Working with US providers

If your clinic also deals with US providers, FaxToFax supports HIPAA and HITECH safeguards and offers a business associate agreement (BAA) on Business and Enterprise plans. Faxes to the US use one plan page per page, the same as within Canada. More details on plans are on faxtofax.ca.