HIPAA compliant fax for speech therapists

A speech-language pathologist (SLP) can run HIPAA compliant fax from $4.99 a month billed annually: 200 pages, a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) on the plan and a dedicated fax number for the practice. Doximity limits its free fax line to eight professions, and speech-language pathology is not among them, so the choice is a practice number with a signed BAA. Every Fax Pigeon plan includes both.

What does a speech-language pathologist fax?

Three kinds of document travel between a speech-language pathology practice and the physicians it works with, and each can go by fax.

Referral orders. A physician's order or referral starts care, and the referring office decides how it travels. Offices that choose fax send it to the practice's number, and Why do doctors still use fax? has the reasons they do.

Evaluation and swallow-study reports. After an evaluation or a swallow study, the report goes back to the referring physician. For Medicare Part B therapy, a physician or non-physician practitioner certifies the plan of care, and CMS considers the evaluation incorporated into that plan.

AAC device documentation. A practice that evaluates patients for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices that generate speech has a third document to send. Medicare's local coverage determination L33739 (revised for services from October 1, 2024) sets seven criteria for coverage, and one is that a copy of the SLP's written evaluation and recommendation was forwarded to the patient's treating practitioner before the device was ordered.

School-based work is outside this page: health information in education records covered by FERPA is excluded from protected health information (45 CFR 160.103).

Can a speech-language pathologist use Doximity's free fax line?

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. The DocFax page names fewer: U.S. licensed physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and pharmacists. Speech-language pathologists appear on neither list.

The Terms add a second limit. Section 2.E has each member agree not to let others use the login credentials, and it says that as between a member and others, including an employer, the account belongs to the member. A practice that shares one number among a front desk, a biller and several clinicians needs a service built for shared use. Doximity's BAA and the other limits on its free line are in Is Doximity fax HIPAA compliant?

Do Medicare's plan-of-care rules apply to speech-language pathology?

Yes, for a practice that bills Medicare Part B outpatient therapy. CMS fact sheet MLN905365 puts physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology under one set of outpatient rehabilitation documentation rules, and it counts the SLP among the qualified therapists who can establish a plan of care. The order or referral behind the January 2025 exception to the signature requirement has to name the type of therapy, and CMS lists speech-language pathology services among its examples.

The 30-day window, the evidence CMS wants that a plan reached the physician and the recertification rules are set out in HIPAA compliant fax for physical therapy clinics. A delivery certificate for every delivered fax is the delivery proof to file beside the plan.

What should a speech-language pathology practice look for in a fax service?

A signed BAA on the plan you buy. A covered entity may let a business associate handle electronic protected health information only if it obtains satisfactory assurances, documented in a written agreement (45 CFR 164.308(b) and 164.502(e)). HHS's cloud computing guidance says a cloud service provider that stores or transmits that information on a covered entity's behalf is a business associate. Some fax services sign the BAA only on a higher plan, and the BAA price comparison goes plan by plan. Every Fax Pigeon plan includes a signed BAA, executed at signup.

A dedicated number. Every paid plan includes your own dedicated fax number. The number you have can port in free and keeps working at the current provider until the transfer lands, in 5 to 15 business days for most, and porting out is free too.

An inbox the whole practice works. Unlimited people share one inbox at no extra cost, with roles and assignment, so a referral can go to the evaluating clinician and a payer letter to billing. Every inbound fax gets an AI summary.

Proof of delivery. Every delivered fax gets a delivery certificate. File it beside the evaluation it covers.

What does HIPAA compliant fax cost for a speech-language pathologist?

Pages sent and received count together against one monthly total, and faxes keep arriving past it. Take a practice that starts 20 new patients in a month, faxes each evaluation as 6 pages and receives a 3-page referral for each: 180 pages, inside Basic's 200. Add 30 progress reports of 2 pages and 40 payer letters of 2 pages and the month is 320 pages. Standard is the plan for that practice, because it costs less than Basic plus 120 extra pages at 10¢.

On annual billing, Basic is the cheapest Fax Pigeon plan up to about 250 pages in a month and Standard up to about 640. Extra pages carry the plan's per-page rate and a separate invoice: at renewal if you pay monthly, every 30 days if you pay annually. Premium (5,000 pages) and Max (10,000) are on the pricing page.

The plans differ only in pages and the extra-page rate. Every plan includes every feature, among them e-signatures, fax from your email and email notifications per fax or daily. It works in any web browser, on a computer or a phone.

Who should switch

Switch if the practice's referrals and reports still go through a fax machine, if its fax service signs the BAA only on a plan above the one it pays for, or if a clinician was pointed to a free line that the profession cannot claim. Begin the port before cancelling anything, and the porting guide gives the order.

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