What Agencies Still Use Fax in 2026 (and Why) | SecurelyFax

Several federal processes still document fax as a submission method. The IRS lists fax for Form SS-4, the EIN application, and can fax the number back. The Social Security Administration accepts many forms and supporting documents by fax. Medicare Part B enrollment via Form 40B can be mailed or faxed to Social Security. VA facilities allow medical-record requests by fax. Many state benefit agencies accept SNAP, Medicaid, and cash-assistance verification documents by fax alongside other channels. Always check the specific form or office for the current method and number.

Hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, labs, and insurers exchange a large volume of documents by fax: referrals, records, prescriptions, prior authorizations, and claims attachments. Federal guidance allows faxing protected health information for treatment when reasonable safeguards are used, which keeps fax familiar to compliance teams. Healthcare systems often cannot exchange data directly, so fax persists as a common bridge between them.

Courts increasingly require electronic filing and accept fax only by specific authorization, but fax still appears in attorney correspondence, records requests, and administrative workflows. Insurers and benefit administrators still accept claim forms, attachments, and appeals by fax. In these settings, fax is one accepted channel among several rather than the only option.

A few forces keep fax alive. Legacy systems were built around paper forms, signatures, and document queues. Fax provides a transmission confirmation that institutions trust for tax, legal, medical, and government paperwork. Many forms still require a handwritten or scanned signature. Healthcare systems often do not interoperate well. Compliance teams are familiar with fax. And agencies that serve seniors, people with disabilities, and lower-income households need low-barrier ways to accept documents that do not depend on a portal. Replacing fax means changing forms, policies, software, training, and audit processes all at once.

The trend is toward less fax, especially in healthcare. Federal regulators have moved to standardize certain healthcare claim attachments and electronic signatures, framed as a gradual phase-out of fax and mail for those administrative workflows. That does not end fax overnight, because clinical organizations, smaller practices, and transitional workflows still rely on it, but it does mean the smart framing is fax as a bridge for current workflows rather than a permanent fixture.

If a form or office asks you to fax something, you do not need a machine or a phone line to comply. You can send the document online from email, a browser upload, or a phone scan, and keep the delivery confirmation that makes fax useful in the first place.