HIPAA compliant fax for occupational therapists

A HIPAA compliant fax setup for an occupational therapist has three parts: a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) signed on the plan you buy, a dedicated number of the practice's own, and delivery proof for every delivered fax. Fax Pigeon includes all three on every plan, from $4.99 a month billed annually for 200 pages. Doximity's free fax line does not list occupational therapists.

What does an occupational therapist fax and receive?

Hand therapy referrals and surgeons' protocols. The American Society of Hand Therapists defines a hand therapist as an occupational or physical therapist with advanced training in upper extremity conditions, and its patient page says a prescription from the patient's physician may be necessary before a visit. A surgeon's order and post-operative protocol arrive at the therapist's number when the office sends them by fax.

Orders for home and seating evaluations. A physician's written order for a home evaluation or a seating evaluation arrives, and the report goes back to the ordering physician.

Workers' compensation. Each state sets its own process. Washington's Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) says on its therapy page that a claim with occupational therapy only needs no authorization for visits 1 to 12, a faxed request form for visits 13 to 24 and utilization review through Comagine Health past visit 24. Occupational and physical therapy visits count separately, and restarting therapy after surgery does not reset the count. For a worker covered by L&I itself, records go by fax with the claim number on every page: initial evaluations, daily chart notes and flow sheets, progress reports and discharge summaries. A progress report goes to the attending provider and the insurer after 12 visits or one month, whichever comes first.

School-based practice is outside this page: 45 CFR 160.103 excludes education records covered by FERPA from protected health information.

Do Medicare's plan-of-care rules apply to occupational therapy?

Yes, for an occupational therapist who bills Medicare Part B outpatient therapy. CMS fact sheet MLN905365 covers physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology together and counts the occupational therapist among the qualified therapists who can establish a plan of care.

The 30-day certification window, the January 2025 exception to the signature requirement and the evidence CMS wants that a plan reached the physician are in HIPAA compliant fax for physical therapy clinics. The order or referral behind that exception has to name the type of therapy, and CMS lists occupational therapy among its examples. A delivery certificate for every delivered fax is delivery proof to file beside the plan.

What does an occupational therapist need in a fax service?

A signed BAA on the plan you buy. An occupational therapist who bills a health plan electronically is a covered entity (45 CFR 160.103). A covered entity may let a business associate handle its electronic protected health information only after obtaining satisfactory assurances, documented in a written contract or arrangement (45 CFR 164.308(b) and 164.502(e)). HHS's cloud computing guidance limits the conduit exception to transmission-only services, so a service that stores your faxes is a business associate. Every Fax Pigeon plan includes a signed BAA, executed at signup, and the free first fax falls under the same BAA.

A number of your own. Every paid plan includes your own dedicated fax number to send from and receive on. Unlimited people share it at no extra cost through an inbox with roles and assignment, and every inbound fax arrives with an AI summary. Porting costs nothing in either direction, and the old provider keeps the number working until the transfer lands, in 5 to 15 business days for most. Other services: eFax charges $40 a number to port in and $40 to port out, and ports out only a number you ported in (U.S. customers); SRFax's Terms of Service say you are not the owner of any SRFax number; WestFax charges $20 a number to port in.

Proof of delivery. Every delivered fax gets a delivery certificate. File it beside the order, plan or request it covers.

Can an occupational therapist use Doximity's free fax?

Not under Doximity's own list. Its help center says fax lines are only available to MDs, DOs, NPs, PAs, pharmacists, medical students, podiatrists and dentists, and occupational therapists are not among them. An occupational therapist can join Doximity, but the fax line is for the listed professions, and the Terms have each member agree not to let others use their login credentials. More on its BAA and limits is in Is Doximity fax HIPAA compliant?

What do other fax services charge for the same BAA?

eFax labels Personal "HIPAA Compliant" and prints the BAA on Business. Fax.Plus prints it on Enterprise only: 4,000 pages at $79.99 a month billed annually ($99.99 month to month). More providers are in the BAA price comparison.

How many pages does an occupational therapy practice need?

One monthly page total covers pages sent and received together, and faxes keep arriving after it runs out. Take a hand therapy practice that receives 20 new referrals in a month, each a 5-page order with the surgeon's protocol (100 pages), sends 20 evaluation reports of 3 pages (60) and 40 progress reports of 2 pages (80), and receives 20 insurer letters of 2 pages (40). That is 280 pages. Standard is the plan for that practice: at $9.99 on annual billing it costs less than Basic plus 80 extra pages at 10¢.

On annual billing, Basic is the least expensive plan up to about 250 pages in a month and Standard from there to about 640. The other plans are on the pricing page. Extra pages are billed on a separate invoice at the plan's per-page rate.

Every plan has every feature, including e-signatures, fax from your email and email notifications per fax or daily. The plans differ only in pages a month and the extra-page rate.

Who should switch

Switch if orders and reports still go through a shared machine, if your current service names its BAA only on a higher-priced plan, or if a colleague pointed you to a free line your profession cannot claim. Keep the old line active until the port lands; Port your fax number before you cancel has the sequence.

* Prices last verified October 7, 2026, at each provider's own site. Fax Pigeon is not affiliated with SRFax, eFax, WestFax, Fax.Plus or Doximity.