Utilizing fax to save lives isn't something most people think about, but for kidney donor recipients like Irena Bucci, this technology was critical. After experiencing the frustration of kidney transplant waitlists, Irena sought to help reduce the multi-year wait time and increase other patients’ chances of finding an organ match before it's too late. A key part of her plan included finding a way to streamline the application process for multiple transplant waitlists. That's where cloud-based faxing came into play.
Irena's journey started with a genetic kidney disease diagnosis that required a transplant for her to survive. She applied to waitlists but found the complex and extensive application process disheartening, especially for what could easily be a five-to-eight-year wait. The average lifespan for kidney dialysis patients is five years so losing time due to red tape is unacceptable. To improve her chances of finding a match, Irena chose to add her name to several transplant lists. However, each one required her to complete numerous forms and supply medical records, lab results, and other confidential data mandating HIPAA compliance.
After discovering there wasn't a unified system allowing patients to apply for waitlists across the country—and many patients didn't even know how to find additional lists—she decided to take action by creating a web-based system called TXMultilisting. This system allows patients to complete the necessary forms and apply to several waitlists at once, so they can better self-advocate for the urgent care they need.
How cloud fax helped in the race against time
One of the challenges Irena needed to overcome was finding a way to submit required forms securely and reliably to multiple waitlists at once. To accomplish this, she turned to InterFAX, the same cloud-based faxing platform many healthcare organizations rely on to transmit documents securely. Since she was an experienced web developer, Irena knew she could use InterFAX's API to connect the form completion tools she developed with the cloud fax platform's bulk transmission features.
InterFAX's API allows developers to link their app and website to the cloud fax service in their own code. Since that involves some coding skills, Irena taught herself what she needed to know. Upland Software's customer support team made the process easier as they're consistently available, and have the knowledge, experience, and commitment to help users with any questions or issues—including writing code with the API.
“When Irena first came to us, she was still early in the web development process and knew she had a lot to learn,” said Kaleb Williams, a customer success manager at Upland. “We were moved by her story and drive to help others; we were ready to do anything to ensure TXMultilisting could help as many people as possible. InterFAX was happy to provide extra support and service, and we can’t wait to see how many lives are saved.”
After she completed the TXMultilisting website and back-end code, Irena's system was ready to take patients’ transplant requests and send them to various lists. InterFAX is HIPAA-compliant and offers strong end-to-end encryption, so donor recipients don't need to worry about privacy or security issues regarding their PHI when waitlist requests are sent. Thanks to the flexible API, developers like Irena can create faxable documents however they prefer. For TXMultilisting, those are built with the information users enter in web forms along with scanned documents.
Irena also took advantage of InterFAX's scalability to avoid bottlenecks as TXMultilisting grows. The platform scales to handle the needs of organizations of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprise customers, taking millions of faxes each month that necessitate routing to specific departments. InterFAX also manages privacy and security while automatically tracking incoming and outgoing faxes. For Irena, TXMultilisting will be able to handle the increased fax load regardless of how quickly the number of users increases.
Using a robust cloud-based fax platform also helps reduce costs. By eliminating the need for fleets of on-premises physical fax machines, Irena could avoid hardware expenses as well as costs related to maintenance, telecom lines, and beyond.
Better processes save lives
In the end, Irena's hard work paid off. Now people in desperate need of a kidney have a single place they can go to apply to multiple waitlists. TXMultilisted patients have experienced dramatically reduced wait times—in some cases, it’s only a few months. Consequently, more patients are matched with their new kidneys before their prognosis progresses beyond medical intervention.
“I believe that geography should not be your destiny, and patients can influence the transplant system and waiting time across transplant centers if we know which center to list at, how to get there, problems that arise on the way, and how to overcome them,” Irena said. “I’ve gained knowledge visiting numerous kidney transplant centers across the U.S., including estimates of wait times at transplant centers and flight schedules to help others get kidney transplants.”
Irena's persistence was a win for patients overwhelmed by cumbersome processes. She managed to reduce her wait time down to just a few years. Her work enabled her to help other patients nationwide advocate for their wellness faster and more effectively, with less stress involved.
Leveraging the right tools played an essential role in bringing TXMultilisting to life, and cloud fax was a significant driver in making this life-saving service a reality. In the end, Irena transformed what was a tedious and confusing application process into a simple, streamlined service that uses fax in the cloud to change patient outcomes dramatically. All it took was recognizing a challenge, finding the drive to overcome it, and utilizing resources like InterFAX to bring it all together.
