Can you legally put a patient name on a fax cover sheet when sending an attached document?

Answer 1

According to H.I.P.A.A. rules, healthcare agancies and providers must provide privacy of the healthcare information that they collect, maintain, use, and/or transmit. This means that only certain individuals will have the right to access the information and that the information is secure from others. Depending on who has access to the fax this may put the patients confidentiality at risk. Look up HIPAA rules for your specific case, sometimes companies will assign an internal number to each patient and identify the patient by this number instead of by mane or initials.