89% of hospitals still rely on fax machines

Hospitals continue to use outdated systems to communicate with patients and other healthcare organizations, according to TigerConnect's State of Healthcare Communications report.

TigerConnect surveyed 200 healthcare employees in various roles. Of the respondents, 28 percent were clinical workers, 22 percent C-level participants, 19 percent IT professionals, 18 percent administrative staff, 11 percent operations and 2 percent were other employees.

Here are five key findings:

1. Majority (89 percent) of respondents said they use fax machines to communicate across departments and roles.

2. Landline communication was the most common choice of communication when secure messaging is not available.

3. Thirty-nine percent of healthcare workers said it is difficult or very difficult to communicate with one or more groups of care team members.

4. Around half of healthcare employees experience communication disconnects that affect patients daily and multiple times a week.

5. Communication inefficiencies can cost hospitals more than $4 million annually.

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