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Overview

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How do I send an outbound fax from Elation?

You can send faxes directly from a patient’s chart using the Provider Letter and Referral features. You can attach up to 40 pages of patient records per fax. These are sent from Elation-owned fax numbers with California area codes, not the electronic fax number assigned to your practice. All faxed pages count toward your Fax Usage.

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How do I pick fax as the delivery method?

In the To field of your Letter or Referral, there are two ways to trigger a fax:
  1. Select a Contact with a fax number.
  • Select a Contact from the Elation Directory or create your own. Creating a Contact is recommended if you’ll be faxing to them often.
    • To add or modify a Contact’s fax number:
      1. In the To field, search for the Contact and select a match from the search results.
      2. Click Edit Contact.
      3. Under Contact Information, click Edit to add/edit the fax number.
      4. Click Save after making your edits.
  1. Type a fax number directly.
  • For one-time use, just type the 10-digit fax number. In this scenario, instructions for Elation Connect will NOT be sent.
If the Contact is also an Elation user then they will only receive your Letter or Referral in their Elation account, even if they have a fax number on file.When faxing to a Contact, Elation will include instructions for setting up an Elation Connect account so they can view documents digitally. Click here for more information about Elation Connect.Each fax is limited to 40 pages. To send more than 40 pages:

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Workflow Instructions

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Sending a fax using a Provider Letter or Referral

If the Contact is also an Elation user then they will only receive your Letter or Referral in their Elation account, even if they have a fax number on file.Each fax is limited to 40 pages. To send more than 40 pages:

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Locating & managing sent faxes

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Viewing sent faxes

Faxed Provider Letters are Referrals appear in:
  • The patient’s Chronological Record.
  • The Consult section of Reports.

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Tracking the status of sent faxes

To check the status of a fax, look for one of the following::
  • Fax Pending - The fax is still in progress.
  • Fax Sent - The fax went through successfully.
  • Fax Failed- The fax did not go through.
Patient chart Chronological Record showing a fax entry dated Aug 30, 2024, with "Fax sent on 08/30/2024 1:54 pm" highlighted, confirming successful fax delivery status.

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Locating & managing failed faxes

If a fax fails to send you’ll get a notification in:
  • the Urgent inbox of your Practice Home page
  • the Requiring Action section of the patient’s chart.
The notification will include:
  1. the error message received from Elation’s fax provider
  2. additional error details
  3. troubleshooting steps
Take one of the following actions to address the failed fax: Requiring Action section showing an Outstanding referral from Kary Jones, MD to Jane Smith, MD with a red "Fax Failed: Please confirm number with recipient (number not valid)" error and expanded "Tell Me More" panel explaining the number is not in service, with Acknowledge and Actions options visible.
What to include when contacting Support about a failed fax
If a fax fails and you need help from Elation Support, include the following details so we can investigate quickly:
  • Patient chart ID
  • Destination fax number
  • Date and approximate time of the fax attempt
  • Fax ID, if available in the Tell Me More details panel
  • Whether this recipient has successfully received faxes from you before
Failed faxes — including those that have exhausted all automatic retries — appear in the Urgent queue in Practice Home, so it’s a reliable single place to track failed faxes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I fax to multiple recipients?
No, you can only send a fax to one recipient at a time. Create separate Letters/Referrals for each recipient
How do I send a fax that’s not related to any patients?
To send a fax that is not related to any patients, create a generic chart (e.g.. name the chart ‘Office Fax Only’) and then send a fax from that chart.
After I send a Letter or Referral, how long will it take for the Sent/Failed status to display in the patient’s chart?
It can take up to 20 minutes for the Sent/Failed status to appear in the patient’s chart due to processing time.
How many fax attempts will Elation make before marking the fax as ‘failed’?
When a fax transmission fails, Elation retries sending it up to 5 times within 30 seconds. If it still fails, the fax will be marked as ‘Failed’ in the patient’s chart and will appear in the your Urgent inbox on thePractice Home page and in the Requiring Action section of the patient’s chart.
How do I resend a failed fax to the same fax number?
Anyone can click the “Resend” button on a failed fax to fax it again.
How do I resend a failed fax to a different fax number?
To send a failed fax to the new fax number, you must create a new Provider Letter or Referral with the updated fax number or Contact. You can’t edit the fax number of the original fax.
My fax keeps failing but the recipient’s fax number is correct. What should I do?
Elation uses Voice over IP (VoIP) to fax documents over the internet. This method breaks the fax into small chunks called ‘data packets’. If even a few packets get interrupted, even for a second, the fax can fail. Transmission issues can happen with any faxing method, but they are more likely if the recipient’s fax line is busy or already in use. In most cases, retrying the fax a few times often resolves the issue. If the recipient’s fax number works but faxes still fail occasionally, try the following:
  1. Call the number to confirm a healthy fax tone before you attempt to resend the fax.
  2. A healthy fax tone is clear (no static) and high pitched.
  3. The number might ring like a normal telephone 2-3 times before you hear the fax tone.
  4. If the fax tone sounds good but the fax still fails::
  5. Ask the recipient if they can adjust their fax to allow for longer fax transmissions.
  6. Ask the recipient if they are having general fax issues (e.g. line issues, paper jams, or out of ink).
If you need further assistance, clickI need help -> Contact Elation Support and include the fax failure context in your message.
The status of my fax in the patient’s chart says ‘Fax Sent’ but the recipient said they never received it. Why?
The ‘Fax Sent’ status indicates that the fax was successfully sent. If the recipient says they did not receive the fax it may be because they misplaced it or they did not recognize the communication is from your office. Ask the recipient to check their fax inbox for a document that looks like one of these pages: Two-page fax example: cover sheet addressed to Sunny Shine, MD from Kary Jones, MD with reference code 89M-NJK-8XJ, and a clinical letter with the same reference code for accessing the interactive patient chart online.