# Why are docs and hospitals still using faxes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-docs-and-hospitals-still-using-faxes/964363>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 13, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-docs-and-hospitals-still-using-faxes/964363 "2022-05-13T13:53:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-docs-and-hospitals-still-using-faxes/964363/41 "2022-05-15T22:04:49Z")

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My PCP no longer uses fax. But my pharmacy still insists on faxing prescription renewal requests to him, to no avail.

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**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-docs-and-hospitals-still-using-faxes/964363/42 "2022-05-15T23:39:59Z")

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Is that because there is some sort of national record or is it just because the doctors you see are all affiliated with the same hospital or use the same system? I tried to find out if there is a national record keeping system in Canada, and all I could find were articles like [this](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/a-national-electronic-health-record-for-all-canadians-1.4976932) , which suggests that as of 2019, there was no national record in Canada and that individual doctors, clinics hospitals and labs use a variety of electronic medical records that are incompatible with each other, although apparently some provinces have a provincial record. And the author ( an ER physician) says when he needs information from out-of-province hospitals he must fax a request and wait to have the records faxed back to him.

Which doesn’t sound all that different from the situation in the US. I was in the hospital for a couple of days last week, and the hospital had access to the records from the three other hospitals I’ve visited since 2016 - because just by coincidence, they all use the same medical record system\*. But my PCP uses a different system and I suppose my cardiologist uses a third.

\* I was surprised when I arrived at the hospital last week, because I was told my name was spelled incorrectly in the record - and until I was discharged and got instructions on getting access to the patient portal , I couldn’t figure out how they _had_ any records as I had never been there before.

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