Farewell to fax? How CMS aims to drag healthcare into the present.

The article focuses on a new health information technology regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that standardizes electronic claims attachments sharing among providers, insurers, and programs like Medicare. This rule aims to replace outdated methods such as faxes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Modern Healthcare Vol. 56; no. 4; pp. 28 - 29
Main Author: Early, Bridget
Format: Journal Article
Published: Crain Communications Inc. (MI) 4/13/2026
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Farewell to fax? How CMS aims to drag healthcare into the present.
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        au: Early, Bridget
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          United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
          Health Care Industry
          Insurance, Health
          Health Information
          Digital Technology
          Rules and Regulations
          Electronic Health Records
          Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
          Health Policy
          Electronic Data Interchange
          Workflow
          Automation
          Collaboration
      ab: The article focuses on a new health information technology regulation issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that standardizes electronic claims attachments sharing among providers, insurers, and programs like Medicare. This rule aims to replace outdated methods such as faxes and postal mail with more automated, interoperable processes, improving payment timeliness and reducing administrative burdens. While industry groups welcome the regulation as a significant step forward, they emphasize the need for extensive system updates, staff training, and collaboration with electronic health record (EHR) vendors before the May 2028 implementation deadline. The rule also includes electronic signature requirements and applies to entities subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Stakeholders note that complete elimination of fax use is unlikely in the near term, and further regulatory efforts are needed to achieve broader data exchange interoperability, ideally using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standards.
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      doctype: Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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