Klio Care vs. Fax
Most home health orders in the United States still move by fax. It feels free and it works with every agency, which is why it survives. But every fax is a page nobody tracks: no status on the referral, no reminder on the unsigned 485, no evidence for the G0180 you could have billed, and a misdirected fax is a HIPAA breach. Klio replaces the fax pipeline with one dashboard for $100 a month.
Starts at$100per month
Referrals, home health and hospice order signing, monthly G0180 / G0179 report with evidence, AI tools for your agencies, and support — all included.
- Contract
- None · month to month
- Built for
- The physician office
“Free” + staff hours
An eFax line runs ~$17–$30+/month, but the real cost is the front desk and MAs: calling agencies for status, re-faxing lost pages, hunting for unsigned 485s, and scanning signed orders into the chart.
Offices on Klio typically save 2–3 hours of follow-up calls a day
- Contract
- None
- Built for
- 1987
Feature by feature
Included Partial / with limits Not offered
Built for the physician office
1987
Price for a physician office
Contract
Setup / implementation fees
Send home health referrals
From the physician office to any agency
Send hospice referrals
Sign home health orders
CMS-485 plan of care, interim orders, recerts
Sign hospice orders
Certifications, face-to-face, interim orders
Monthly G0179 / G0180 report
Sent to your billers automatically every month, evidence attached
AI features for home health agencies
AI intake, AI documentation, revenue intelligence
Invite any home health agency
One link, free for the agency to accept
Home health agency onboarding
Works with any agency EHR
HCHB, Axxess, WellSky, MatrixCare, Alora…
Works alongside your practice EHR
Athena, eCW, Epic — no migration
Support
HIPAA compliant · BAA
What Fax is
The fax workflow for a physician office: the front desk assembles a referral packet and faxes it to an agency, then calls to confirm it arrived and to ask whether the patient was accepted. Days later a CMS-485 comes back by fax; it sits in a tray until the physician signs it, is faxed back, and the signed copy is scanned into the chart — if someone remembers. Recertifications repeat the cycle every 60 days.
The visible cost is small: an eFax or cloud fax line at roughly $17–$30 a month, or a fax server. The invisible cost is staff time — status calls, re-faxes, hunting for lost pages, filing — and the revenue cost of G0180 / G0179 certifications nobody documented well enough to bill. Misdirected faxes are also consistently among the most common HIPAA breach categories.
Where fax is strong
It works with literally every agency and requires nothing of them. Nobody needs training, there is no login, and the marginal cost per page is near zero. For an office that sends two referrals a year, it is fine.
Where Klio wins for physician offices
Status instead of phone calls. Your front desk sees whether the agency received and accepted the referral in real time. Most offices on Klio save two to three hours of follow-up calls a day.
Orders that chase themselves. The 485 arrives digitally, matched to the patient; the physician signs in one click from any device; automated reminders go out until it is done; the signed order returns to the agency instantly with a CMS-compliant audit trail.
Revenue you were leaving on the table. Every certification and recertification you sign becomes a line on a monthly G0180 / G0179 report with the evidence PDF attached, ready for your billers.
Still works with every agency. Invite them with a link — free for them, live in minutes, on whatever EHR they run. $100 a month, no setup fee, no contract, about ten minutes to set up.
Klio vs. Fax: frequently asked questions
Is faxing home health orders HIPAA compliant?
Fax can be HIPAA compliant when handled correctly, but misdirected faxes are consistently among the most common breach categories, and paper in trays and on scanners is unprotected PHI. Klio encrypts orders in transit and at rest, logs every action with user identity and timestamp, and includes a BAA.
What does fax actually cost a physician office?
The fax line is cheap — roughly $17–$30 a month for eFax. The real cost is staff time spent on status calls, re-faxes and filing, plus the G0180 / G0179 revenue that goes unbilled because nothing is tracked. Offices on Klio typically save two to three hours of follow-up calls a day.
Will agencies that only fax work with Klio?
Yes. You invite them with a link; accepting is free and takes minutes, and Klio provides a one-page guide and redirect materials to move them off paper. Most agencies adapt quickly because they get faster signatures out of it.
How long does it take to replace fax with Klio?
About ten minutes for your office. Your Klio rep sets up role-based access, invites your agencies, and gets the first referral sent before they leave. Plans start at $100 a month with no setup fee and no contract.
Competitor information is drawn from publicly available sources — vendor websites, help centres, third-party software listings and 2026 buyer guides — and reflects our understanding at the time of review. Pricing, features and terms change; confirm details directly with each vendor. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. If something here is out of date, email hello@klio.care and we will correct it.