For all the progress healthcare has made in digital transformation, one thing hasn’t changed: we still rely heavily on fax. In fact, 75% of healthcare communication still passes through fax machines and digital fax inboxes. But just because fax is still here doesn’t mean it has to be a barrier.
At Documo, we’ve always believed that the right tools don’t just digitize—they empower. The rise of AI-enabled document processing (IDP) gives healthcare organizations a new way to interact with fax: not as a static format, but as a source of structured, actionable data.
Fax can still play a role in healthcare—but it should never be a bottleneck.
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The Problem: Healthcare Runs on Documents, But Documents Don’t Run Themselves
Cloud fax gave healthcare a secure, compliant way to move documents electronically. But that was just the first step. What we’re still seeing every day is the downstream impact of manual document handling:
- Teams reading and retyping prior auths into payer portals
- Staff copying referral info into an EHR line by line
- Faxed lab results being printed, sorted, and scanned again
This isn’t a technology problem. It’s a workflow problem. And no amount of hardware upgrades will fix it if every document still requires manual eyes and hands.
Manual processes don’t scale. And in healthcare, every delay introduces the risk of patient harm, miscommunication, or missed revenue.
The Opportunity: AI-Enabled Document Processing in Healthcare
Intelligent document processing (IDP) changes the game. By using machine learning and natural language processing to read, classify, and extract data from incoming faxes, Documo turns static documents into structured data. Think of it as a brain on top of your fax infrastructure.
- Referral received by fax? Auto-classified, triaged, and sent to scheduling.
- Discharge note from a Healthcare Facility? Parsed and uploaded to the right patient file.
- Lab result PDF? Data extracted and pushed to your analytics team.
This happens in real time. No more bottlenecks, no more dropped handoffs.
Documo’s AI-powered IDP works seamlessly on top of Documo Cloud Fax—upgrade your intake workflows without replacing what already works.
By enabling automated healthcare intake with structured, actionable data, IDP helps close the gap between fax and digital transformation.
Why It Matters: Precision Reduces Burnout, Delays, and Errors
This isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about giving care teams back their time. When your front desk isn’t drowning in paperwork and your intake team isn’t stuck playing detective, you reduce burnout. You catch more. You move faster.
And that matters. Because precision isn’t just about data quality—it’s about care quality. Structured data makes automation easier. It makes compliance easier. It makes care delivery safer.
It also creates downstream benefits:
- You can search and report on structured data.
- You can build dashboards.
- You can train AI models.
But none of that happens if the data starts life as a scanned, siloed PDF.
Structured data doesn’t just move smoother. It moves smarter. And in healthcare, where minutes matter and details save lives, that precision isn’t optional. It’s transformative.
Let’s Talk
If you’re still reading faxes like it’s 2005, it’s time to level up. Modern tools like AI-enabled document processing are no longer futuristic nice-to-haves. They’re the foundation for a better, more scalable healthcare system.
Ready to see how AI-enabled document processing can transform your healthcare workflows? Let’s talk.
Your teams and your patients deserve better.
