Hospitals must ensure patients are not subject to sensitive examinations while under anesthesia without providers and trainees first obtaining and documenting the patient’s informed consent, according to revised interpretive guidance released by CMS last month.

Effective immediately, CMS says texting of patient information and of patient orders is permissible—with some caveats. In a memo to CMS state survey agency directors on February 8, CMS noted that due to technological advances in encryption and more secure interfaces between information...