diff --git a/input.cc b/input.cc
index 4c3f1bdce..725efeb51 100644
--- a/input.cc
+++ b/input.cc
@@ -853,9 +853,7 @@ void read_phixs_data() {
 
 #ifdef MPI_ON
   // just in case the file system was faulty and the ranks disagree on the existence of the files
-  // broadcast the existence of the files to all ranks from rank 0
-
-  MPI_Bcast(phixs_file_version_exists.data(), sizeof(phixs_file_version_exists), MPI_BYTE, 0, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
+  MPI_Allreduce(MPI_IN_PLACE, phixs_file_version_exists.data(), 3, MPI_C_BOOL, MPI_LOR, MPI_COMM_WORLD);
 #endif
   assert_always(phixs_file_version_exists[1] || phixs_file_version_exists[2]);  // at least one must exist
   if (phixs_file_version_exists[1] && phixs_file_version_exists[2]) {