June 10, 2026
Do I need a fax number for e-prescribing?
Yes. E-prescribing platforms require a fax number as the backup channel for failed electronic scripts. What the requirement actually means, what kind of number satisfies it, and what it should cost.
The short answer: yes. If you are enrolling in e-prescribing, the platform will ask for a fax number, and at some platforms the field is mandatory. Two examples you can check directly (both read at the vendors' help centers in August 2026):
- TherapyNotes makes the fax number a required field for ePrescribe enrollment: without one, enrollment does not proceed.
- Headway's provider documentation states that fax is required as a backup channel for e-prescribing, and notes that providers without one can set up an e-fax number online.
This is not a quirk of those two platforms. E-prescribing rides networks that connect thousands of EHRs and pharmacies, and the fax number is the designed failover.
Why a prescription network still wants a fax number
Electronic prescribing works most of the time. When a transmission fails between systems, or a pharmacy needs to send back a clarification, a refill request, or a rejection, the network falls back to the one channel every pharmacy in the country still runs: fax. Your fax number is where that traffic lands.
Which leads to the detail that most guides skip: the requirement is about receiving. The point of the backup channel is that pharmacies can reach you. A send-only tool or a shared outbound number does not satisfy it, because nothing addressed to you would ever reach you. Fax Pigeon's free first send is send-only by design; the inbound-capable number that satisfies e-prescribing comes with every paid plan, from $4.99 a month billed annually.
What satisfies the requirement
Three properties, in order of importance:
- Inbound-capable and yours. A dedicated fax number that your practice controls, where incoming pages land in an inbox you actually check.
- HIPAA-covered. Prescription traffic is PHI, so the service holding your number needs a signed Business Associate Agreement with you.
- Portable. Numbers get printed on forms and filed with networks. Pick a service that ports your number in free and, just as important, lets it port out free if you ever leave.
A practice number, not a personal line
Prescribers sometimes hold a free personal fax line through a physician network. Those lines belong to the individual clinician: staff cannot open an account on them, they are not a shared inbox, and they do not move with the practice. The number you file with an e-prescribing network is the practice's number. A Fax Pigeon plan gives you one you own, that ports anywhere, that your whole team can share on any plan, and that carries a delivery certificate for every fax you send.
What it should cost
Fax Pigeon's 200-page plan is $4.99 per month billed annually ($5.99 month to month): your own inbound and outbound fax number, 200 pages, free porting both directions, e-signatures, and a signed BAA included, with the full agreement public at before you sign up. Enter the number on your ePrescribe enrollment the day you activate. Details on the pricing page.
Fax Pigeon is not affiliated with TherapyNotes, Headway, or Doximity. Help center language referenced above was read in August 2026; check the sources for later changes.
Fax Pigeon
HIPAA-compliant fax with a signed BAA on every plan
Plans from $4.99 a month billed annually with 200 pages, your own number and unlimited people. Higher volumes from $16.99 a month with 1,000 pages; every plan is the whole product, with no per-seat fees. Every paid plan includes the BAA, free number porting, sending a fax by email from the address on your account, an AI summary of each inbound fax, e-signatures, contact management, and a delivery certificate on every fax. The first fax is free.
Know a practice that still faxes? The referral program pays 20% of the plan charges we collect from every practice that joins through your link, every month it stays.