Margot Sanger-Katz on Twitter: "Covid tests in Austin are backlogged for days because results are being sent via fax, then typed into a computer, before people can be told about their results. https://t.co/BbdAiwTqaW @BettieCrossTV h/t @ddiamond attn: @sa

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If you’re trying to provide (or receive) coronavirus care, and a fax machine is getting in the way, do let me know. sangerkatz@nytimes.com

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Fax is often used because of HIPAA regulations; it's considered secure while email isn't. If the test lab can't enter the data directly, they're forced to transmit it to the people who can, and they'll use fax to do so.

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😳 If the good Lord had wanted us to use fax machines, She wouldn't have given us encryption.

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If you want to see how further messed up this is, look deeper at how everything is reported. With daily numbers being reported, find out how far back the tests were completed. Connectivity in healthcare has long been a challenge, now add in the public sector lack of interop.

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Obamacare tried to make all healthcare digital. GOP fought hard to roll that as well as other things back.

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Medicine continues to use fax machines because they are not vulnerable to hacking, and government penalties for data breaches can be enormous. Also, they don't have data format interface issues when communicating between different systems.

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Please don’t try to spin faxes as a conscious choice based on a risk/benefit calculation.

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Saw this story last night. We wrote an API to receive faxes (via fax #), parse them with AWS Textract, and forward results somewhere. All HIPAA compliant. Who can get us in touch with WHOEVER to use it to fix this problem? We will open source it isn’t about money.

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Back off bruv.

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State agencies in Texas are barely funded. Remember, no state income tax.

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But we pay a heck of a lot of property and sales tax. It sure isn’t free to live here.