Troubleshooting Outbound Fax Failures in Elation EHR
How to recognize a failed fax
- Check the status on the sent correspondence. You’ll see one of: “Fax Pending,” “Fax Sent,” or “Fax Failed.”
- Look for failure notifications in two places:
- Your Practice Home “Urgent” inbox.
- The patient chart under “Requiring Action.”
- Open the failure notification and click “Tell Me More” to view the error reason and tailored troubleshooting steps from our fax provider.
- To retry the same number after resolving the issue, use Actions → “Refax.”
Quick fixes checklist
- Confirm the recipient’s fax number and that you intended to fax (not message another Elation user, who will receive it in their EHR instead of via fax). Outbound faxes are sent from Elation-owned fax numbers (area code 650) and not from your practice’s inbound electronic fax number.
- Call the destination number and listen for a healthy fax tone (clear, high-pitched) before resending. If the line is busy or in use, resending after a short interval often succeeds.
- Keep transmissions under 40 pages when possible; split large attachments or have the recipient retrieve attachments via Elation Connect to reduce failure risk on long transmissions.
- If you want attachments delivered by fax (not just via Elation Connect), check the “Also fax copies of attachments” box when available.
- If your fax continues to fail with the correct number and a good tone, ask the recipient to adjust their fax to allow longer transmissions and confirm no line/paper/ink issues on their side, then try again.
Understanding timing and automatic retries
- Elation will automatically attempt to resend a failed transmission up to 5 times within ~30 seconds before marking it Failed.
- Status can take up to 20 minutes to update in the patient chart due to processing time between systems.
- Failed faxes do not count toward your practice’s fax usage overage calculations.
How to resend
- To resend to the same number, open the failure notification and click “Refax.”
- To send to a different number, create a new Letter or Referral with the updated fax number or Contact (you can’t edit the original fax’s number).
If status says “Fax Sent” but recipient can’t find it
- “Fax Sent” confirms the transmission completed successfully.
- Ask the recipient to check their fax inbox for a cover page and/or pages that reference viewing attachments online if the fax exceeded page limits or if Elation Connect delivery was used.
Common fax failure causes and targeted resolutions
- Busy or in-use recipient line
- What you’ll see: “line busy,” “no answer,” or similar in error details.
- Fix: Retry using “Refax” after a short interval; call to confirm line availability and fax tone first.
- Long transmissions or packet loss (VoIP)
- What you’ll see: failures on larger attachments or variable success by time of day.
- Fix: Keep under 40 pages, split into multiple faxes, or have the recipient use Elation Connect for attachments; ask recipient to allow longer transmissions on their fax device.
- Contact type or attachment constraints
- What you’ll see: difficulty sending when “Organization” contact and the draft has more than 40 pages.
- Fix: For >40 pages, send to an “Individual” contact or split pages; if needed, adjust the contact type to “Individual.”
- Attachments not arriving by fax
- What you’ll see: recipient receives only cover/body pages, not attachments.
- Fix: Ensure “Also fax copies of attachments” is selected when available; otherwise, attachments are accessed via Elation Connect.
- Wrong destination or non-fax recipient
- What you’ll see: delivery not reaching the intended fax device.
- Fix: Verify the 10-digit fax number and recipient workflow. If the recipient is an Elation EHR user, they receive the correspondence inside Elation rather than via fax.
Where to view and manage sent faxes
- View sent faxes in the patient’s chart timeline for Letters and Referrals, and on the Reports → Consult tab for Referrals.
- Failure notifications appear in your Practice Home “Urgent” inbox and the patient chart “Requiring Action” section with error details and next best actions.
Best practices to reduce future failures
- Keep outbound faxes under 40 pages when possible; use Elation Connect for large records or split into smaller transmissions.
- Save frequently used destinations as Contacts with accurate fax numbers; update preferred fax details when they change.
- Monitor practice fax usage in Settings → Fax Usage & Settings; failed pages don’t count toward usage, but optimizing workflows reduces cost and friction.
When to contact Elation Support
Contact us if:- You’ve retried and verified the recipient line has a healthy fax tone, but the fax still fails with the same error reason; include the failure notification’s error details in your message.
- You suspect a platform issue or need help interpreting error details.