Hospitals must obtain written consent for pelvic and similar exams.
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Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced new guidance for hospitals informed consent guidelines.
Based on increasing concerns about the absence of informed patient consent prior to allowing practitioners or supervised medical, advanced practice provider, or other applicable students to perform training- and education-related examinations outside the medically necessary procedure (such as breast, pelvic, prostate, and rectal examinations), particularly on anesthetized patients, we are reinforcing hospitals’ informed consent obligations.
CMS requires hospitals to first obtain and document informed consent from patients before performing sensitive examinations in all circumstances. Informed consent includes the right to refuse consent for sensitive examinations conducted for teaching purposes. Importantly, this federal guidance should be considered along with any state laws that may require verbal and/or written consent for pelvic and other sensitive examinations performed under anesthesia. To date, 20 states have passed such legislation, including California and Hawaii. Alaska and Idaho have pending bills that will address this issue.
You can access more information on this topic at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website.
Letter to the nation’s teaching hospitals and medical schools | HHS.gov