I had been using a physical fax machine, but with the increased amount of electronic insurance billing I’ve been doing, insurance companies have been faxing me like crazy. This is great for helping my patients save money! However, it was way annoying that fact that they chose the weirdest times to send me stuff (3:00 am! what!!?!).

I started looking for a fax number that would receive and route to e-mail. And because I’m cheap, preferably free. :) And so! That narrowed down my search greatly. I’ve been using K7.net coupled with a gmail account (big, fat, and also free) for a few months now and it’s been great. K7’s basic website did not inspire immediate faith in the service, but it’s been really smooth for me. Here’s a brief review:

Pros: free (funded by ads), can choose to set it to Fax Only mode or can use the Fax + Voicemail mode (voicemails show up as .wav files in your e-mail), reduces paper waste, NO MORE FAX RINGING OFF THE HOOK AT 3:00AM!!

Cons: can’t choose a number in your area code (by default you get 206 for Seattle, WA, so perhaps people in Seattle would consider this a “pro”) … but that hardly matters to most, especially to the insurance companies who are sending stuff to all sorts of area codes. If you set it to Fax + Voicemail mode, sometimes the faxes are interpreted as voicemails with that intermittent beep.

The “catch”? Gotta use it at least once every 30 days, or else it’ll be deactivated. It’s an automated system too – I know, because I got deactivated. I sheepishly wrote into customer service and they graciously gave me my fax number back as a one-time courtesy. The trick? Set it to Fax + Voicemail mode, call in every 2 weeks and leave yourself a voicemail, and you’re golden.

Thanks K7 for letting me sleep through the night!

If you’ve tried K7 or any other free fax receiving service, I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments.

Potentially confusing: “K7.net” and “www.K7.net” go to different pages. The one with the “www” prefix goes directly to the fax-to-e-mail service I have described here.

With a few kiddie patients under my belt, it's fun to reward them with stickers. Walmart has a pretty good selection - they've got your regular stickers, then stickers on clear backing, fuzzy stickers, and even 3D stickers. I try to stay away from the super heroes since that implies some violence, and pick stuff like cars, kittens, and Baby Pooh. Not sure if Toy Story stickers imply violence at all. Oh well. The shiny foilness was too cool to resist.

Recent patient hilarity:

[ phone rings, I answer in my usual business-like manner ]
Long-time Patient who Can Predict Weather by Pain in Joints: Caroline! What did I tell you? It rained today! The weather forecast didn't even pick this up!

I couldn't help but laugh. It was true. The weather was great until all of a sudden we had golf-ball-sized hail in some parts of Houston, and it was coming down like a whole stampede of cats and dogs.

ADORABLE Eight-Year-Old Patient at End of First Visit: You're the smartest doctor I've ever met.
Me (stifling urge to laugh): Oh? Why do you say that?
AEYOPEFV: Because you explain stuff better to me.

This is interesting to hear. I don't have many child patients (understandably), but those whose parents do have them try acupuncture have probably tried everything under the sun first, exposing the poor things to more doctors than many adults have seen in their lifetimes.

Fellow acupuncturist brethren - holla back if you knew that Huo Xiang is only supposed to be cooked around 10-20 mins, and thus Huo Xiang Zheng Qi San, if done in decoction form, is only supposed to be decocted for no more than 20 mins.

Be honest now. :)