There are currently 2 major internet-based Fax providers that work with OSCAR. This is meant to be an objective and detailed comparison based on users’ reported experiences and advertised features. The author has also extensively tested both providers entirely.
SRFax vs. RingCentral
Please feel free to let us know of any other integrated internet fax options or if you have any suggestions for this article! These are currently the two major vendors which report to be certified for healthcare fax in Canada and EMR providers integrate with.
SRFax
- SRFax, a British Columbia based company, in operation since 2005. Has been a hylafax-based internet fax provider that integrated with every OSCAR system for 10 years.
- SRFax was originally the only internet fax provider that obtained all the PHIPA / PIPEDA / healthcare data privacy certifications for Canada. The result was SRFax had a monopoly for many years on eFax services available for OSCAR.
- $25 fee per number to port in local numbers
- SRFax is quite an expensive fax option. Pricing model is per-page per month.
- A clinic with 1 physician usually gets the 1,500 pages/month “Healthcare Standard” plan for $41.35/mo (tax not included) ± $10-30 in overage fees for extra pages ($0.05/additional page outside the plan).
- Each physician in a clinic uses typically around 1,400-1,750 pages per month (total including sent/received faxes).
- Medium clinics with several physicians spend a few hundred dollars per month on SRFax.
- Large clinics can spend $1,000-2,000+ per month on SRFax.
- Offers no mobile app.
- No local fax numbers available. Only toll-free numbers, or you must port in your own.
- No number blocking option. There is only a “Junk Faxes” feature which moves faxes from selected numbers into a Junk folder (you’re still billed for those).
- Limited configuration options (i.e. limited support for multiple numbers, subaccount users can’t use the printer driver or YajHFC client, interface features can’t be customized)
- Fax-to-email is included
- No uptime or support guarantee
- No integration possible with physical fax machine (no ATA)
- Works with ancient YajHFC client for Windows and Mac (only the SRFax master account login works)
- Offers SRFax Printer Driver for Windows, requires master account login to work (sub accounts/user accounts don’t work)
- Privacy Compliance: PHIPA Compliance – SRFax.com
- API is quite limited and doesn’t use modern token authentication methods
- The SRFax master account number, email and password must be passed in each API request. This means whenever you change your email or password you need to update it with your EMR provider.
- The username/password used in the API requests is that of the master account which also has full billing, fax history, and settings access.
- Since the API uses username/password-based authentication (instead of token-based), the only way to revoke API access from an integrated application such as EMR is to change the password.
- No way to create an API token that is limited to certain functions i.e. only sending a fax etc.
- No way to limit API access per app since API requires the master account username/password, so anyone can take this credential and login to the account with no restrictions.
- The full SRFax API “SDK” is only available for PHP; there is a C# and VB class available but these lack a few methods available in the PHP class
- No free developer account available (developers must pay as a regular client account)
RingCentral
- RingCentral is a multi-billion dollar California-based company founded in 1999, which operates globally and is traded on the NYSE. They have offices in Canada.
- RingCentral offers unified communications as a service (UCaaS) – phone, SMS, fax, etc.
- Pricing is per-user based and the plan which includes unlimited fax is “Advanced” plan for approx. $35CAD per user per month.
- It IS enough to buy one user to use the unlimited fax (including API), but if you want to use RingCentral for calling then it will only be one phone that can use the calling (for additional phones you need to buy more user licenses).
- Clinics frequently just buy the one user license for ~$35/mo to use unlimited fax and they connect the existing fax machine to an ATA to work with RingCentral (analog telephone adapter that you can plug a phone or conventional fax machine into and works just like a phone line)
- RingCentral supports using calling, fax, and SMS to and from the same number. So any phone number on the account can accept calls, fax and SMS (each of these options can be toggled per number).
- Includes unlimited fax (the soft cap is about 50,000 pages/month), and phone system features such as unlimited calling across USA/CAN, auto attendant, schedules, voicemail+transcription, call recording, single sign-on, call queues, HD voice, hot desking, etc.
- Includes award-winning mobile app and desktop apps with ability to send fax from file, scan and send fax right from the app, see failed faxes/manage faxes, make calls, send SMS, configure settings, etc.
- You can also scan from computer and fax the file from the web portal and apps
- Fax-to-email is included
- Free number porting
- Includes fax number blocking
- Local and toll-free numbers for fax are also available
- You can choose to connect an ATA (these devices are cheap for around $50-70) to keep using your existing fax machines to either only send faxes, or send and receive faxes to the fax machine.
- 99.999% uptime SLA
- 24/7 support
- Users can be created and given permissions to send from X fax number(s)
- Must choose the option to store data in Canadian servers
- Privacy Compliance: Privacy Regulations Worldwide | RingCentral, RingCentral | PHIPA Compliance Guide, RingCentral | PIPEDA Compliance Guide
- API is feature-rich with full SDK’s for almost every programming language with many example applications
- Supports JWT and OAuth for modern secure authentication
- API-integrated apps must be registered in the RingCentral portal and the redirect URI must be included, so only the authorized application has permission to perform the given action via API.
- Ability to revoke an integrated app’s API access from the RingCentral portal since each app has unique client/app identifier which must match on both sides.
- Support for multiple fax numbers via the API as well as user portals.
- Free full-featured developer account available