CMS has changed its tune on texting patient orders in hospitals, now saying it’s okay if they use a secure texting platform. But computerized provider order entry (CPOE) is still a better way to go, according to a Feb. 8 memo.^[1]

“Texting patient information and the texting of patient orders among members of the health care team is permissible, if accomplished through a HIPAA compliant secure texting platform (STP) and in compliance with the Conditions of Participation (CoPs),” according to the memo, which CMS’s director of the quality, safety and oversight group sent to state survey agency directors.

This is a turnaround from CMS’s 2018 memo, which said hospitals were permitted to use secure texting to communicate patient information except for physician orders. The update is a recognition of technological advances. “When CMS developed the 2018 guidance, most hospitals and CAHs [critical access hospitals] did not have the ability to use secure texting platforms to incorporate these messages into the medical record,” CMS said in the memo, which applies to hospitals and CAHs.