Guides

How to fax a doctor’s office

Updated November 6, 2026

Get the fax number from the office itself, put your name and date of birth on every page, and send it from dimefax.com/send or any fax service. Then call the office to confirm they received it, since a fax can arrive at a busy shared machine.

Steps

  1. Get the right fax number from the office’s website, your patient portal or a phone call. Large practices often have different numbers for records, referrals and billing.
  2. Use their form if they have one. Records requests usually need a signed authorization form; many offices post theirs online.
  3. Label every page with your full name and date of birth, so loose pages can be matched to you.
  4. Add a cover page saying who it’s for, what it is and how many pages follow.
  5. Send it from dimefax.com/send, and keep the delivered confirmation.
  6. Call to confirm a day or two later.

Privacy: what to know

Fax is still the standard way to send medical paperwork, but no fax is end-to-end encrypted: the last step to the office’s fax machine runs over the phone network, with every fax service. Every Dimefax fax is encrypted on its way to our fax carrier and while we store it, and an unpaid fax is deleted after 24 hours. In the Dimefax iPhone app you can also send it Private: our carrier keeps no copy, and our copy is locked so only your devices can open it.

For doctors’ offices and other healthcare providers sending patient records: turn on “Don’t keep my faxes” on your account and Dimefax only transmits your faxes. A fax you send is deleted as soon as it’s delivered or fails, a fax you receive goes to your email without being stored, and our fax carrier keeps no copy. Whether that meets your HIPAA obligations is your call to make with your compliance officer. If you need a signed business associate agreement, ask us.

If they say they never got it

Check the fax number with them, and read them the delivered time Dimefax showed you. Offices often have several fax machines or a digital inbox, and faxes get filed to the wrong place. Resend if needed.

Questions

Can I fax my medical records request from my phone?

Yes. Scan the signed form with your phone, then send it from dimefax.com/send in your browser.

Is faxing medical records secure?

Fax travels over the phone network for the last step, so no fax service can promise end-to-end encryption. Get the number from the office itself and confirm by phone that it arrived.

How do I know the doctor’s office got my fax?

Dimefax shows “Delivered” with the time once their machine confirms the pages. Call the office to make sure it reached the right person.