Fax Medical Records Online

First: Which Plan You Need for Medical Records

Before anything else: the free and standard FaxTerra plans described on this page do not include a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). They are built for individuals sending their own medical records (patient-to-provider, patient-to-pharmacy, patient-to-insurer), where HIPAA rules apply to the *receiving* provider, not the sending patient. If you are a covered entity (a hospital, clinic, pharmacy, insurer, or any provider regulated by HHS) transmitting PHI under HIPAA, you need a fax plan that includes a signed BAA. The FaxTerra HIPAA add-on adds a BAA signed before checkout, per-document encryption, and an audit log to any paid plan. Other BAA-signing providers include Documo (mFax), Updox, eFax Protect, and SRFax.

Records-Request Fax Numbers by Institution

Each guide below carries the fax numbers that institution publishes on its own site, with the source, plus what to include and how to verify the number before you send. Where an institution publishes no patient-usable fax number, its guide says so and explains the route that does work.

Hospital systems

• AdventHealth: a records fax for every campus, and the lines several campuses share
• Allina Health: one Release of Information office for every hospital and clinic
• Ascension: no system-wide records fax, and the facility lines three markets publish
• Atrium Health: one corporate Release of Information line, plus the sites that keep their own
• Banner Health: the published fax is the provider route, not the patient one
• Baptist Health: several separate systems share the name, and which one treated you
• BayCare: no published records fax, and the routes that do work
• Baylor Scott & White: one system line, plus a line at each hospital
• City of Hope: a Health Information Management fax for each of the four regions
• Cleveland Clinic: Ohio Health Information Management, plus an after-hours line
• Corewell Health: a Health Information Management fax at each site
• Dignity Health: a records fax for each hospital, on CommonSpirit’s regional pages
• Essentia Health: one Duluth line, and the one kind of document it accepts
• Geisinger: one centralized release department, two fax numbers into it
• HealthPartners: the care system and the health plan hold different records
• HonorHealth: one network office, plus a separate Cancer Care line
• IU Health: a fax per hospital group rather than one for the system
• Johns Hopkins: a records fax for each of its nine facilities, from one Hopkins page
• Kaiser Permanente: routes by region; Release of Information numbers and how to find yours
• M Health Fairview: three records offices, three numbers
• Mass General Brigham: one Release of Information line, plus an imaging fax at each hospital
• Mayo Clinic: a records fax for each campus, from Mayo’s own authorization form
• MD Anderson: one Release of Information office for the whole cancer center
• Memorial Hermann: imaging publishes a fax, general records go by mail
• Mercy: which Mercy holds your chart, and the fax at each hospital
• Mount Sinai: most hospitals publish a phone number rather than a fax
• Novant Health: one enterprise line, with South Carolina handled separately
• NYU Langone: no published records fax, and the route that does work
• OHSU: one Release of Information team, one number
• Orlando Health: one Medical Records line, plus the email and mail routes
• Penn Medicine: a records fax for each of its seven hospitals
• SSM Health: a records contact for each hospital across four states
• Sutter Health: one system office covering the whole network
• Tampa General Hospital: one fax line set up for patient records requests
• Trinity Health: which Trinity Health has your chart, and the records fax each ministry publishes
• UPMC: a Release of Information line at each hospital
• Virginia Mason: three lines, chosen by where you were treated

Labs and imaging

• Labcorp: a billing fax, and why records go a different way
• Quest Diagnostics: the Patient Access Form and where it goes
• Solis Mammography: one form and one fax number, in both directions

Pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers

• Accredo: the patient fax line, what it accepts, and the number to give your prescriber
• Costco Pharmacy: records and mail order are two different destinations
• CVS: separate lines for pharmacy records and MinuteClinic records
• CVS Caremark: prescriber-only fax, and the member routes
• Express Scripts: prescriber-only fax, and how to start home delivery
• Optum Rx: separate lines for appeals and coverage determinations
• Walgreens: Custodian of Records, plus the clinic records line
• Walmart Pharmacy: no published fax, and what to do instead

Insurers and health plans

• Aetna: one national number for member appeals
• Anthem: the Medicare and state Medicaid appeal lines Anthem publishes, by plan
• Blue Cross Blue Shield: why there is no national number
• Cigna: the Central HIPAA Unit lines for PHI requests
• Humana: the Grievance and Appeals Department line
• Molina Healthcare: a separate state plan sets the appeals and grievances fax
• UnitedHealthcare: the Community Plan and California lines, and how to find your plan’s number
• Wellcare: separate lines for grievances, appeals, and coverage requests

Government programs

• CHAMPVA and the VA: eligibility, claim evidence, and DFAS pay
• Medicare and Medicaid: contractors, plans, and state agencies
• TRICARE: the national DEERS line, and why enrollment and claims route by region
• Insurance claims and appeals: the general process for any insurer

Why Healthcare Still Uses Fax

Despite years of "fax is dying" headlines, healthcare runs on fax. Industry analysts estimate U.S. healthcare still transmits billions of fax pages per year. The reason is structural: the HIPAA Security Rule (45 CFR § 164.312) treats fax (point-to-point telephony) as an acceptable channel for protected health information, while email requires layered encryption, recipient setup, and key management that smaller practices rarely implement. Faxing is the lowest-coordination channel for cross-organization PHI exchange — no shared portal account, no encryption-key swap, no DirectTrust HISP — just a phone number. Until something replaces that property (and despite years of effort, nothing has at scale), healthcare faxing persists.

Common Personal Medical Documents to Fax

As a patient, you may need to fax:

• Medical records requests to a previous provider, with the patient release form they require
• Authorization to release medical information (often a HIPAA-required form, signed by you)
• Prescription transfer requests to a pharmacy — though most pharmacies now use e-prescribing networks (Surescripts), some still require fax for controlled substances or transferred prescriptions
• Prior authorization documents to insurers for specialty medications
• Insurance claim appeals and supporting documentation — see how to fax an insurance claim
• Disability or FMLA medical certifications to employers
• Test results you have on hand, faxed to a new provider

The receiving party is the regulated entity — they are responsible for HIPAA-compliant handling on their end. Your role as the patient is to send accurate, complete documents and verify you are sending to the correct number.

How to Fax Medical Records Securely with FaxTerra

Verify the recipient's fax number before you send. The number printed on the form or letter you are responding to is the most reliable; the institution guides above carry the numbers each institution publishes on its own site, with the source. Never use a number from a third-party directory. Upload your documents as PDF or photo. Start from a clean scan or a well-lit photo so handwriting, signatures, and form details are legible, then send. FaxTerra transmits at high resolution automatically. Transmission to our fax carrier is encrypted in transit and documents are encrypted at rest (AES-256); sent documents are retained for 30 days on the free plan, and you can delete any sent fax from your history at any time. You will receive an email confirmation when the receiving fax machine accepts your transmission. Keep the confirmation as part of your personal records. For accepted files, page limits, and what happens after you send, see how to send a fax.