MW Hospitals are still relying on fax machines and photocopies - and it's costing you
By Paul Markovich
In the age of AI, there's no reason the U.S. health system should be stuck in the analog era
Fax machines are still ubiquitous in the American healthcare system. That needs to change, writes Paul Markovich.
I admit it. I smashed a fax machine to smithereens, much like the guys in "Office Space."
As the CEO of a healthcare company, I'm usually a dignified guy. I wear a tie. I go to board meetings. But I'm also a healthcare consumer - and I'm frustrated, as most people are, by the bureaucracy.
Taking out my pent-up frustration on the fax machine felt liberating, but I did it to make a point: The U.S. has the best healthcare technology in the world, yet when it comes to performing simple tasks, we're still in the analog era.
In almost every industry, innovation, creativity and technology have allowed us to become more efficient and improve service. Advances in automation and computing have revolutionized the production of cars, electronics and food, making these things more plentiful and affordable.
Healthcare is one of the few exceptions. From 1975 to 2010, the number of doctors and other clinicians treating patients increased by 150%, but the number of people working in administrative jobs in healthcare increased by more than 3,000%. We have more people pushing paperwork than taking care of patients. And even though we have personal computers, the internet, mobile phones and electronic medical records, the healthcare sector does many of the same tasks it did a generation ago, but with far more people.
Read my past op-ed: The price Americans pay for medicine has gotten horribly out of control. Here's how to fix it.
This has a real cost, both for the quality of care and for our wallets. Take, for example, a good friend's relative, who has a serious heart condition. Not so long ago, to have a look at a problematic artery, doctors inserted a small camera down his throat - an invasive, painful and costly procedure. Concerned about what they saw, his medical team sent him immediately to an academic medical center two hours away for treatment. When he arrived at the medical center, he learned that the doctors there didn't have access to the images from earlier that day, forcing them to repeat the test. Another camera down his throat. More pain. More risk. And another bill.
For medical professionals to be unable to access all the images to inform a patient's care is inexcusable. He deserved better. We all do.
Every American should have a digital health record
It is time to ensure every American has access to a comprehensive, real-time, secure and private digital health record to personalize their care, improve their experience and reduce administrative costs.
Different clinicians in different hospital systems often cannot access all your medical information in a timely fashion. They have to rely on patients to recount their medical histories or wait hours or even days for another clinician to send a DVD, a fax - or a photocopy.
The consequences are obvious and grave. When doctors don't have a full picture of their patients' health history, it can result in unnecessarily repeated tests and missed diagnoses, as well as higher costs both in terms of lost time and money.
A smartphone can send data across the world in a fraction of a second. A credit-card reader at the gas station or grocery store checks my credit and authorizes purchases in seconds. Why can't all of my healthcare information always be available to my providers and me?
Health data is big business
Many health plans, hospitals and electronic medical-records companies consider patient data a "strategic asset" that they own. They don't want to share it voluntarily if they can make money from it.
If we want a real-time personal health record for all Americans, we must demand that Congress act. We need federal legislation to require the creation of a comprehensive digital health record for every American, and federal oversight to ensure it happens.
That is because "interoperability" efforts to increase data sharing have been helpful but have fallen short. In 2009, Congress passed a law and invested more than $38 billion to promote widespread adoption of certified electronic health records. The health system digitized vast amounts of data, but the law failed to ensure that providers share that information among themselves and the patient. Congress tried again in 2016 to address the barriers to data sharing and ensure accountability, but it wasn't enough.
We can fix this
It's time to fix this once and for all. Instead of asking health insurers, hospitals and physician practices to share data, Congress needs to mandate that these entities make comprehensive digital health records a reality if they want to continue to receive funding from the federal government. In addition, federal legislation should make it clear that health information belongs to the patient. It's not the proprietary commodity of healthcare companies and organizations. Of course, the privacy laws in place today would apply.
A comprehensive, easily shareable digital health record is a fundamental first step for creating a health system that is responsive, efficient, affordable, and worthy of us all. It will improve healthcare by reducing medical errors and unnecessary tests. It will save money by shrinking bureaucracy and eliminating duplication. It will give us a comprehensive picture of the nation's overall health, enabling us to better invest our healthcare dollars to target the cures and interventions most needed. No one will miss the fax machine.
Paul Markovich is president and CEO of Ascendiun, the nonprofit parent company of Blue Shield of California, Blue Shield Promise Health Plan, Altais and Stellarus. He took over as CEO of Blue Shield of California in 2013.
-Paul Markovich
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May 04, 2026 12:26 ET (16:26 GMT)
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