Nasto sees Sfax as the alternative to an expensive secure e-mail technology solution. “We’re a digital certificate authority,” he says, creating an electronic signature that is far more reliable than a digital one. In addition, he says, whereas a physician’s office could spend two hours a day in manual faxing, Sfax reduces the time spent on that process to less than 20 minutes.

The biggest hurdle in getting Sfax into the market, Nasto contends, is visibility. In other words, the fax machine may sit in most doctors’ offices, but it’s rarely regarded with anything more than a passing nod.

“Faxing is a routine, so doctors don’t really think anything of it,” says Nasto. “They don’t realize there’s a solution out there. As a result, it’s often hard to get an office manager’s attention because so many people are trying to get their foot in the door.”

SecureCare Technologies recently made an inroads in the home healthcare industry with a partnership with Thornberry Limited, a Lancaster, Pa.-based developer of clinical management software for the homecare industry. The Sfax system was made available to Thornberry customers on June 1 and is being implemented at Twin Tier Home Health in Vestal, N.Y.

“By offering the ability to automatically send, receive and track documents without the need to print, all from within the patient electronic record, we’re giving users of Thornberry’s point of care system a way to drastically slash their costs associated with manual faxing, as well as greatly simplify administration and speed workflow,” said Tom Peth, Thornberry’s president.